This audio is an oral history interview conducted by The Army Heritage Center Foundation to preserve the memories of Soldiers’ and their Families, honor their service, and help educate the American public about the Army’s and its Soldiers’ contributions to the Nation.
“I went to a rehab at Cam Ranh Bay. It was great, right by the South China sea. The sand was pure white, it was just like being in Bermuda with the blue water and all. One day I was laying in my bunk and I hear a familiar voice. This guy walks up to my bunk and says ‘How you doing, soldier?’ I say, ‘A lot better now.’ He asked ‘Where you from?’ and I told him Pennsylvania, and he said ‘Me too!’ It was Jimmy Stewart, he was visiting and making his rounds, and I got to talk to him for a while.”
Tom Foor – US Army, Silver Spring Township
Tom Foor poses with the barrel of his cannon, Bad News III, during the Vietnam War.
“Looking back a couple of things really bother me,” he added. “That episode with the ammunition, that really bothered me, always has. When you were in Nam, your main thing was to get your butt out of there and your buddy’s butt out of there. We had no love for that country. The only interaction we had with the people was when they wanted to sell us something. Nobody ever smiled at you or thanked you. I guess they were afraid of us, there was so much going on. Those people were under tremendous stress, I can understand that.
“What hurt me the most was in 1975 when the country fell, seeing those tanks going through the palace gates. The worst was when they had the Huey’s on the aircraft carrier and they just pushed them over the side. It made my physically ill; I had to shut the TV off. I just couldn’t watch it anymore. I jut think of all the stuff we went through and all they guys that died and got shot up.
“They say it wasn’t a waste, that it stopped things from happening in South East Asia, but I don’t now. It seemed like a big waste of lives to me. I hate to think that way. I wouldn’t trade my memories in the Army for a million bucks, but that’s the way it ended, and that’s the way it was.”
(Read more stories from this veteran and others at: Voices of Service)