I grew up in a Midwestern blue collar / industrial town (Dayton, Ohio) that had a major R&D military installation (Wright-Patterson AFB) and a nuclear research facility.
The area was always high on the Russian’s “hit list” during the Cold War. My father and a father-in-law were in the Navy during WWII; one uncle was a driver in the Red Ball Express and another was a Civic Affairs officer in Italy.
I can remember listening to war news from Korea in the mornings before going to grade school. I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout (until I got bored sitting around in a church basement instead of being in the woods). I had several good teachers in high school (English composition and literature, journalism, history, civics and social problems).
As an undergraduate I majored in English and had a minor in journalism. During my sophomore year of college, President Kennedy was assassinated and Vietnam was heating up. I went to land grant and ROTC was compulsory during the first two years and optional afterwards. You made your decision toward the end of your sophomore year of college. I needed money to finish school; I could feel the wind blowing.
I had feelings of patriotism; I had no moral, philosophical, political or religious reasons to keep me from taking life or participating in justified killing. I didn’t want to miss the largest “party” that would happen during my generation. I didn’t know much, but would soon know much more, about Vietnam, the history of Southeast Asia, colonialism there, or the Cold War.
I served in the Air Force as an intercept director / air traffic controller in Vietnam from 1967-68 (rotating during the middle of Big Tet) and was in the Air Force from 1965-70.
Three things that have shaped my life (and America’s national course) were the modern Civil Rights era, the Vietnam era, and the Cold War. War should never be a whim.
I belong to the same veteran’s organization that John Kerry once belonged to. I’m a writer, essayist and poet (among other things) and often write and lecture about Vietnam.
Modern events and times are not the same as the Vietnam era but there are similarities and relevance. To paraphrase a distinguished scholar, “Those who do not know, let alone understand history will be very damned surprised!”
Personal note: Horace Coleman was born in 1943; attended Bowling Green State University (BA, MFA); has worked as a university professor, done public relsations work, and been a technical / proposal writer
