SP/4 Thomas Hebert
Hello, I'm SP/4 Thomas R. Hebert. I was in the
92nd Aviation Co. Qui Nhon,Vietnam - 1965-1966.
I drove a fuel truck on the airfield. My job
was to refuel all airplanes that landed at the
airfield.
I worked on weekends, and every chance I had
when I didn't have guard duty, at the 85th Evac.
When flying in the spotter planes, I was told
by a guy that I was the only one who never got hit
by ground fire. This same guy went up the next day
and got hit.
I was taken up for a ride in the A-1E Skyrader,
just ONCE, but that guy made me wish I had stayed
on the ground.
I'm looking for service buddies or anyone that
might remember me in Nam...
There is a nurse that I particularly would love
to get in touch with...her name is:
LT Mary Trujillo
Please, if you know her whereabouts or family,
or you know me, please sign my guestbook to let me
know.
Best Regards: "The Old Critter" Tom
Hebert Vietnam Vet:65-66-68-69
The following was written for a
school project... The War Alive In It's
Veterans
by Kristen Myer, Karen
Demeester ENC 1145 Writing About the Vietnam
War and its lasting impact. April 14, 2000
On July 13, 1965, Thomas
Hebert, already enlisted in the Army, received
orders to report to San Francisco, California.
He spent two or three days there and then
boarded an airplane for the Twenty-three
hour flight to Vietnam. He was 23 years
old. His tour lasted from July 13, 1965 to july
13, 1966. After leaving Vietnam Mr. Hebert was
sent to Fairbanks, Alaska. He spent 18
months there and was then sent to Ft. Campbell,
Kentucky, where a new company was being
started up. After about thirty days the new
company was disbanded and Mr. Hebert received
orders to go to Vietnam for the second time.
He tried to have his orders changed but was
unsuccessful. So, at the age of 26 he served his
second tour from October 31, 1968 to November
28, 1969.
Mr. Hebert's M.O.S. was 55B20 - an ammo
storage specialist. He worked in an ammunition
depot giving out ammunition to the troops. In
addition to his responsibilities as an ammo
storage specialist, he worked in grave
registration, where they sent the soldiers who
had died. "We had to clean them up, wash them and
put them in body bags to be sent home to their
mothers and fathers. This job I really hated."
He also worked for a period of time in the
85th evacuation hospital, "treating the men who
were shot all to hell." This was something Mr.
Hebert volunteered to do. "I would ask the C.O.
if I could go over and give the help that they
could use, and with open arms they would make
work. I would give one of the nurses a little
break, and I was glad to help them. I would
change bandages and talk to them to ease their
pain. I got to read to them the letters that
they would get from home...and somewhere I hope
that they will remember what I tried to do for
them."
During his first tour, Mr. Hebert didn't see
much action. "It was just like being overseas.
Nothing was happening around where I was."
Ironically, however, he was injured only two
weeks after arriving in Vietnam. "I was not
shot, but got stabbed in the right thigh by
friendly forces. I got stabbed in a bar
fight." On the other hand, it was during Mr.
Hebert's second tour that "all hell had broken
out." He still remembers watching, "...a monk
dumping gasoline on himself and lighting himself
on fire, and never crying out or
screaming while he burned himself to death."
Mr. Hebert does not have fond memories of
returning home to the United States. He was
treated with disrespect and bitterness by people
opposed to the war. "They spit on me, and called
me a baby killer. I did not ask to be sent
there, but I went because I had orders to go. And
I would do it again if I was younger."
The hostile attitude that so many people
harbored only added to Mr. Hebert's loss of
trust in people. "I don't sleep at nights
anymore. I have to sleep with a light on and a
loaded gun close to my bed. I don't trust
anybody. I sit with my back to the wall."
His wife has been to see it, but Mr. Hebert
has not been to see the Vietnam Veterans'
Memorial. "I can't seem to get near the wall. I
have never been to Washington, D.C., and I plan
never to go there, because for me that would
make me less of a man than I am. I would cry my
eyes out, and I will never do that out in
the open." He too, like Mr. Kowski, has lost
a lot of respect for the government. "They said
they would take care of the VETERANS, and they
don't. But they help the people that we fought
against. We now have to pay them back for the war
we fought for them."
By sharing their experiences and feelings,
war veterans help those who didn't experience it
for themselves to better understand war and all
it's aspects. By giving the statements in
history books meaning, sights and sounds, faces
and emotions, they give future generations
information about history that cannot be
learned from a history book, only relayed
from experience. And in passing down a
deeper understanding of our history,
each veteran helps to secure knowledge that
may one day help the leaders of our country
when facing another war.
Music by LLerrah
featuring Margi Harrell
|
|
| |