“They
were a good enemy, illusive and hard to find. Generally, they
found us, he stated.
“They
were good soldiers.”
It
was like fighting in “their backyard,” he added.
In
February 1967, Glaudel was shot in the chest when his squad
was ambushed.
The
medic who found him saw no visible signs of life.
Then
he started to gurgle and caught his breath, he was told.
A
helicopter picked him up and took him to the base camp, where
he was flown to Japan for
hospitalization. Three months later he was medically discharged
because of his health.
Glaudel
returned home to find he and other veterans were not welcomed
with open arms.
“It
was strange,” he said.
“The
war was not popular and we were not appreciated for what we
did.”
He
went on to college and then taught history in high school
for 32 years.
Glaudel
compares the Vietnam War to the war in Iraq today, calling
it Vietnam II. Like Vietnam,
there is “no real strategy to win, no plan to get them out,”
he explained.
On
Veterans’ Day, everyone should stop and give thanks to the
military who make the “freedoms and lifestyles we have possible,”
he said.
