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Hi my name is Elijah West. I am the grandson of Ams1 James A. Jones, Det 4, 1967-1968. I am doing a research project on the 1960’s more specifically my topic is the Vietnam War. Since the Vietnam War is such a broad topic I have narrowed down my subject to how soldiers were treated during the war, compared to how they are treated now. So my questions for you are:
• When you came back from Vietnam what sort of reception did you receive, was there a big welcome home ceremony like there is today?
• How did people react to you when you where in uniform? Where you insulted? Attacked? Was the treatment you received any different if you were out of uniform?
• Were you in support of the Vietnam War or against it?
• How had serving a deployment in Vietnam affected your day to day life?
• There were many anti-war protests, did you ever participate in one, and if so how would the other protesters react to you?
Thank you for your time and any information that you can give me is greatly appreciated.
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..Elijah West...
Sum tough questions, by that i'm speak'n only for myself.
Upon returning, "Back to the world"...I landed at Travis AFB...I looked into eyes of men going to "the Nam" and thought to myself..."Rejoice in your innocence"..."when your plane lands in VN,..your world shall change."
San Francisco airport was crowded, noisy, confusing, and first experience with American harassment towards military ( i was in camo attire,..uniform of VN )...there i was called names, spit on by a young gal,...enuf said.
Flew to Boston, MA...hitch-hiked up to NH...State trooper picked me up and gave me ride to border..he was ex-military...said "good luck"...Then picked up by family with son in service..rode about a mile from the house with them...upon departing they said "good luck"...As i walked down the old neighbor street, I met Mr Sheppard, a father of two boys I had grown up with...he asked if I wanted a beer. We sat and talked..( he was a WWII Marine Vet )...As I stood (after sum time)..Roger shook my paw while look'n me in the eyes and told me it was "good to see me and better move on home, as your Mom will be happy to see you" And she was...But..I was not her little boy anymore and that was tuff on her...I took off after a few days and went hiking up thru the White Mountains of NH...that was my "Welcome Home". ( hiked about for sum 3-4 weeks)
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Mr.Purington, thank you for response; I know that many Veterans are not willing to talk about their experiences and so I am very grateful for you to be willing to share your story with me. As I said earlier my grandfather was a Seawolf and if I could have asked him I would have, sadly he is no longer with us and so I am asking the rest of the Seawolves who most likely had similar experiences to please share their stories. The information that you have given me, will help greatly in the writing of my essay so once again I thank you.
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Elijah, First I would like to say your grandfather was a very good friend of mine, I went through training with him on our way to Viet Nam, he was my Navy Seawolf brother I very much love and miss him, and I had the pleasure of meeting your mother and you and your Aunt at the Reunion in South Carolina I hope you all will attend our next reunion in Dallas Tx in Sep. this year, you all are part of our family.
My return to the US in June 1968 was somewhat like others, I arrived by military contracted air dressed in fatigues and was bussed directly to the San Francisco airport to make arrangements to fly home, to Texas. As I entered the airport there were a number of protesters yelling and calling us baby killers and spitting at us, never experienced any thing like that before, the disturbing thing was there was a police officer standing near them laughing at the same time telling us to keep moving.
My homecoming in my hometown was quiet with no fanfare, my family and friends welcomed me home and there were no more demonstrations to put up with at that point. Like most of us that went over at that time, I was a volunteer and believed we were going over there for the right reasons, to help a people resist being forced under communism. And to this day I think it was the right thing to do, unfortunatly the war and our military efforts were so politasized the war could not be exacuted in a manner to allow us to win it. The heartbreak is, we lost so very many of our brothers and sisters in that war without seeing their sacrafices end with a total victory in Viet Nam. Our brothers and sisters that made it home from that war are still today paying the price of that time, with medical and mental problems as well as early deaths from those problems your grandfather Jim Jones being one of them. Our lives, like all wars, were changed for ever, our bond as brothers who fought together is for ever and will remain until the last Seawolf.
My day to day since returning home all these many years has at times been hard, I have not slept a full night through, slightest noise can wake me, have PTSD, not comfortable around a lot of people except when with my brothers at our reunions don't have a lot of friends other then the Seawolfs. Never demonstrated or protested. Never incountered any other protests and was not harassed anymore in or out of uniform. Your Familys Seawolf Friend, Jim Jones Buddy for Life, Andy
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Thavis was fogged in when i came home, so we landed at SF airport, we could have stayed inside to catch other flights home but several of us , Myself , SEALS, Green berets went out front to see the Hippy Protestors, I was in front and could see Some big Hippy Chick stepping up with a mouth full of Spit to spew on me , as she approached i stepped sideways and hit her full force in the face, blood flew everywhere the cops usherd back in the airport to go home, never encountered any protests besides that in my Small town , A history of military servicemen i was welcomed as a hero, i stayed in the service but understand from others that when applying for a job they never let anyone know they were in Vietnam, I have PTSD as most other Seawolves do, but have it under control except when something traumatic sets it off , Seawolves are the only ones i associate with for the most part, and i participate in a lot of functions to keep the Seawolf name and history alive, Met your Dad and Mom at a reunion , great Folks
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To Mr. Andy and Mr. Bill,
Thank you both for replying, it is nice to hear from people who knew my grandfather. Thank you both for allowing me to hear your stories and being willing to share with me. I am very grateful for your service and for the information. This will help me on my project greatly.
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My turn,,, I came home in October of 1970, flew commercial to travis, palled up with a seal friend and 2 army guys, we had partied on the plane all the way over the ocean, we grabbed a cab (50 degrees in short sleeves,,, brrr) we got off at united airlines gate entrance, lots of protestors and name calling,, I asked myfriends if they felt like baby killers, no was the answer, so we started to walk in and this full gowned bitch ( hari Krishna I think) walked up and spit on me,, we stopped n I wiped it off, and said not again, she started to hawk one up and like the chief, I shattered ( I saw teeth break) her jaw, still not sorry for it,,that was my thankyu for the welcome home, down like a bag of sugar, another guy started to come at me and I put him down right there,, someone had called security by then and the sf pd person came up and told the four of us to follow him, he was laughing all the way to the ticket counter, he said he was really glad to see them put down,, he was a vet from the marines I think if memory serves me right,,, that incident put one hell of a chip on my shoulder, for 2 years after I drank, went into bars just begging someone to knock it off,,,, any way, my Kat stuck it out with me, and it is like above, I got all the leftovers of the war, ptsd, all the side effects of the defoliant, agent orange, and I don't like crowds, as I speak I am sitting in my cubby hole that is getting smaller and smaller, I feel good around my brothers, few and far between, but this site brings us a little close, so,, maybe see you in dallas, please do come, you are family n family is what we do best,, bless you n all your loved ones.
You've never lived until you almost died, for those who fight for it
freedom has a flavor the protected will never Know!
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We flew into Travis in late Feb/ early March of 72. Boarded a bus to get to downtown San Francisco. Huge crowds outside the main gate. Beer bottles/garbage/piss/ etc pounded the bus till we were able to clear the crowd. Found a hotel in San Fran changed clothes and went looking for a bar. Bar seemed to be ok until some dude tried to impress his girlfriend and ask me how many babies I had killed in the war. Told him not enough, kicked his ass and hit the street.
42 years later my son returns from Afghanistan and the homecoming at Ft. Bragg was incredible. Food/bands/booze and a ton of people all with American flags. Went to dinner the next day and he was in uniform and my goodness the out-pouring of thanks was eye--watering.
Hope this helps.
R/Bear
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...Wanted to answer sum of the other questions Elijah..
..My experience of being in or out of my uniform made very little difference as to treatment..people either said very little,..most just avoided even look'n at me..others could not toss enuf insults or gave me the one finger salute..
..As far as being for or against the "War"...the war as we fought it was a joke,..I had a few Vietnamese folk who where friends..yet I knew that when all American forces left country, nobody in the south would stand long against forces from the north and I would say to my friends,.."Americans go, VC come for sure"..they knew this also, yet, would smile and say "no"...If America fought the war as I believe we should have we would have been on their ground, "North" and not fight'n in the "South"...To this day i see my friends faces and figure they were killed or suffered greatly...many were young kids who had very little to survive with..living in a cardboard box does not slow down RPG's or bullets. To sum up I was for help'n, but, I knew the "Big picture" and felt helpless for any good outcome.
..Serving three tours myself..Well upon stand'n with a group of my high school buddies and yak'n with them, a firework rocket was fired off a short distance away, I was hugg'n the ground before you could spit, they was just stand'n and laugh'n, "what's wrong with you.?" said they..I said "noth'n with me, but you guys are all DEAD.!!"..they just didn't get it and i did not get their world...So i very much became a loner and didn't seek friends...except drink'n, drug'n and fight'n..to extinguish the constant "War" film play'n in my head..
..When i left country I left many of my "brothers" back there..it tore me apart to know they was still in "Harms-way" and i was sitt'n at the breakfeast table eat'n, while listening to Melory sing "I got a pair of brand new roller-skates you got a brand new....................it sucked, i should have been beside my brothers.!....No.! I never participated in no anti-war protest..
...Best to you young man.....the kid.
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..Also should have told you..I have been in and out of VA programs, mental wards and hospitals...had the cancer from "Agent Orange" and sum other health problems.
Rode with motorcycle gangs for awhile too...in the year 2000 i turned 50yrs old, rode with RFTW across country to Washington DC,..took me 3 days before i made it to "The Wall" after arriving, everyone else had left..I sat at the Wall early in the morn'n and made my peace...
..I now ride an "easy horse" and enjoy my grandchildren...attempting to put at ease the "hell" i put my own family thru for so many earlier years....
..Always disliked being tagged with "damaged goods"....
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Most of us adjusted, lots didn't. Seems a majority of Seawolves went on to some adrenaline pumping activities, fire fighters, rescue, cops, EMT, motor cycles, flight crew, etc. Majority turned out ok. But then, that war is still only a night time away for any of us. As for respect when we got home, didn't happen unless it was from family, close friends, & fellow vets. Most of us want our history to be remembered, we did what we could at time between "the greatest generation" and the liberal media takeover. I think we were the greatest generation of our time to come out sane from all the politics of the 60-70's.
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