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We have been learning about Tracy's Dave Ziemke, who enlisted in the Army in June 1967 and deployed to Vietnam that December. He served with the 1st Battalion of the 5th Artillery Regiment, north of Vietnam's capital of Saigon.
He experienced heavy combat on Halloween 1968 when he helped defend his artillery fire base from a night attack by North Vietnamese soldiers. He survived that night with a shrapnel injury, but twenty-seven other American soldiers did not survive and many more required medevac.
Dave was proud to have helped defend Fire Base Rita that terrible night, but he remembered being uneasy.
"I was getting short and very nervous. Usually the last month you're there, they pull you out and put you on the base camp just because you're ready to go home. You can't think about war anymore because you are just waiting to go home."
Dave completed his 365th day in December 1968 and reported for his flight home. But even departing Vietnam was nerve-wracking. Dave remembered watching four aircraft pull up to load departing troops before he boarded his flight. But he smiled while describing their departure.
"You're sitting in the plane and when it lifts off, you hear the biggest cheer in the world. All the stewardesses are going like this (Dave covered his ears) just before the yell because I guess they experienced this a lot. (Dave laughed). We're going home!"
Anti-war protesters met Dave's flight at Travis Air Force Base, California. He described his reactions leaving the aircraft as a 19-year-old just returned from combat in Vietnam.
"We were so glad. We made it! We fought for our country. We lived. We got off the plane and started getting tomatoes and all kinds of crap thrown at us. They've got a fence up and all these people are over there with these signs. They're hating us! I went from pride to ashamed in 2 minutes."
Dave returned to Minnesota for thirty days leave, but life did not return to normal.
"I was goofy and nobody understood me. It was nightmares. I ended up in a mental institute during my leave. I was in Willmar (State Hospital) and from there, Fort Sam Houston."
The Army provided mental health support at Fort Sam Houston's Brooke Army Medical Center. When the medical center declared him fit for duty, the Army reassigned him to Fort Hood, Texas where he agreed to a deal with what the Army offered.
"I said, 'I don't want to be in the infantry anymore.' They said, 'Well, if you reenlist, we'll send you to school.' I reenlisted and at that time they gave you $10,000. I went to radar school and became one of the top 10% radar technicians in the Army."
The Army promoted Dave and sent him for a second tour in Vietnam in the summer of 1970. He reported to the 69th Maintenance Company (General Support) at the huge American base at Cam Rahn Bay, a far different world than his first Vietnam tour.
"I had my own jeep and driver and we'd go out to repair radars," he remembered, "I thought this isn't even Vietnam." He described interests he pursued while there, "I got into photography and developed my own pictures." He laughed, adding, "I was sending pictures home -- artwork with photography -- it was like a vacation."
But Dave had serious responsibilities as well.
"The first Vietnam tour I fought the enemy. The second Vietnam tour I was a twenty-one year-old platoon sergeant. Most of the guys in my unit were eighteen or nineteen, just like I was the first time. I was working with people strung out on drugs. That was my biggest job -- helping people get off crank."
When Dave completed his second Vietnam tour he served at Fort Hood for a year before a final assignment with ground radar in Hanau, Germany. His former battalion commander, Col. Rogers, had retired in Germany, so Dave visited him. "I was the first enlisted guy he had talked to about Fire Base Rita," Dave recalled.
Dave was discharged in 1975, but did not return home. "I just traveled," he said, "looking for me or seeing the U.S., I don't know."
Many years later he returned to Tracy. "I became a very proud Vietnam vet," Dave said, "but it took years to get there."
Coming home for combat veterans is not a simple matter of a return flight. They bear a special burden from that experience. They can never really hang up their uniform.
Dave quietly reflected about how Halloween 1968 stays with him.
"I never got over that night. That was the worst night of my life. I saw so many people die and I killed so many -- every night I see eyes. You don't see bodies, you just see eyes."
Dave received Veterans Administration counseling years after his Vietnam service and has undergone surgeries for Agent Orange-related disease. His life today is impaired by ALS.
But Dave's post-service life is also defined by lessons from his service.
"There is no 'I,' he explained, "That's what I basically found out -- it's about team." He smiled and added, "We have to learn a new way to live."
When he was able, Dave volunteered with Meals on Wheels and the Eagles and mowed at the Wheels Across the Prairie Museum.
Thank you for your service, Dave. Welcome home.
The Lyon County Museum is organizing an exhibit about the Vietnam War and Lyon County. If you would like to share Vietnam experiences or help with the exhibit, please contact me at prairieviewpressllc@gmail.com or call the museum at 537-6580.