Nobody Leaves War Emotionally Healthy. The Path to Recovery Is Unique to Each Person.
NOVEMBER 15, 2022| TED ENGELMANN
The U.S. military always takes care of its own when Thanksgiving rolls around, no matter what part of the world you’re in. In November 1968, that place was the fishing village of Rach Gia, where I spent the final five months of my year-long tour in Vietnam helping direct air strikes against the Viet Cong as an Air Force buck sergeant.
Nestled on the southwest coast of the Mekong Delta, Rach Gia was a long way from any major military installation, but the Army found a way to feed us a Thanksgiving meal—turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie delivered by helicopter in large, insulated containers. Just like mom made. Well, sort of.
Ted Englemann spent Thanksgiving 1968 in a remote fishing village in Vietnam, where he helped direct air strikes against the Viet Cong as an Air Force buck sergeant. Photo courtesy of the author.
Ted Englemann spent Thanksgiving 1968 in a remote fishing village in Vietnam, where he helped direct air strikes against the Viet Cong as an Air Force buck sergeant. Photo courtesy of the author.
Four decades later, I found myself celebrating another Thanksgiving on the other side of the world, this time as a freelance photographer assigned to an Army combat outpost in southwestern Baghdad, where I observed one of America’s new “forever wars.” A lot had changed—I had changed—but the turkey and fixings arrived in the insulated containers I remembered from Vietnam.
https://thewarhorse.org/vietnam-veteran-hopes-to-inspire-healing-in-others-with-ptsd/
