A Minnesota PBS Initiative
Reflections
I did not join the Army because I did not want to be an infantryman. I served as a forward observer with the 1st Infantry. I served with the 377th Combat Support Group on special assignment to the 1st Infantry Division.
I have total admiration and respect for members of the Infantry. Base Camp for the 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry was Lai Khe Vietnam field camps for me included; Loc Ninh, Tay Ninh, An Loc, Song Be, Iron Triangle, Phuoc Vinh, Quan Loi, Michelin Plantation. I spent about half my year at base camp and the rest of the year on field operations.
Lament of a Patriot
The young soldier believes in “Duty, Honor, Country”
The young soldier believes in what he is doing, this is his identity.
In the war zone, you wake up every morning wondering if this is your last day and have the same thoughts every night. To survive, you shut down your inner feelings.
There is never a time to turn those feelings back on again after you come home. When you’ve made a commitment that you’re willing to lay down your life for your country and later find out that nobody gives a damn, it is hard to live with that reality. This may be his last identity.
Nobody cares when the soldier comes home. ...wars do not always end when the soldier comes home. On the home front, they last a lifetime.
There is never a time to turn those feelings back on again after you come home.
Searching
I’ve spent most of my adult life searching
searching for a cause without pause.
What I am searching for I am not sure
much of my adult life has been obscure.
Who I am I do not know,
memories do not help my search nor stow.
A lot of my adult life has been an aching heart
I am looking for a place to fall apart.
Many of my memories are golden
to this I am beholden.
What is it I am hoping to find?
Thoughts and memories are held in the borders of my mind.
What is it that I search for
only to find that it may not matter any more.
Is there something behind the voices
helping me with my choices?
If you served in the jungles of Nam
You probably have a plan.
Unless you have been there
do you really know how to care?
Life with pleasure
is a dream beyond a war Vet’s measure
Each morning as I arise
I put on the guise.
While many Vet’s die
peace for the protester was the cry
There is an emptiness deep in my soul.
I don’t know how to deal with this hole.
In life’s journey’s
Ed Peterson
Story Themes: 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1st Infantry Division, Air Force, Art, Coming Home, Ed Peterson, Elk River, Lai Khe, Patriotism, Poetry, Read