Judy Miller Show

IT WAS MY MISSION IN LIFE “My name is John C Wolf, II. My friends call me “Wolfie.” I served in the Army, with Delta Company 1st of the 20th Infantry, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division after being drafted and inducted on May 5, 1970. I was a grunt, received the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star, Air Medal and all the other normal medals for serving in Vietnam with Good Conduct. I was promoted to Sergeant, but they told me I would have to sign up for 4 more years to officially become one. During Nam I was a rifleman, walked point, carried an M­203 (M­16 and M79 grenade launcher over and under) and then became squad, platoon and company RTO (Radio-Telephone Operator). In some ways I ran our company because all communications went through me. One of our CO’s (commanding officers), was a bad officer and didn’t like to talk on the radio. He was later relieved for cowardice in the face of the enemy. I had to ‘call in’ and manage the jets, artillery, gunships and Dustoffs (casualty evacuations from a combat zone). My greatest fear was getting my legs blown off. I was flown to my unit via a hospital helicopter that landed at the emergency area with supplies. I was told to wait in a room until another bird could take me to where my unit was. I was in the entry to the ER, sitting there for about 10 minutes when a helicopter landed. They wheeled a guy in, who had his legs blown off below the knees. That was my first introduction to combat. I started suffering from PTSD sometime in the late 80’s, but blocked it out until I retired in 2009. It has gotten progressively worse. I suffer from nightmares from the event with Zombie and the Easter Sunday ambush in 1971. Eleven men were killed in an ambush including the Chaplain, who had come out to give us Easter Services and Communion. It was the 4th, worst, single casualty battle in 1971. As I look back on it, reconnecting with old buddies brought back some terrible memories, but that is now history. I wanted to help my Vietnam buddies get out of their caves not realizing how it might later effect me later on. Because of my videos there have been countless times I have gotten buddies back together. ~ John C. Wolf, U.S. Army, Vietnam Veteran #TheVietnamWar #History #Veterans #Military