We have begun learning about Lynd’s Bruce Pochardt and his service in the Vietnam War. Bruce was born in 1948 to Louis and Grace (Pearcy) Pochardt as the third of three sons and grew up on the family farm northwest of Lynd.

Bruce began farm work at an early age and attended school in Lynd. He tolerated the classes, but enjoyed his classmates and participated in cross country, basketball, and track. He graduated with the Lynd High School Class of 1966 and began farming before the draft tapped him in early 1968.

He and friend and classmate, Francis Maeyaert, entered the Army together. Bruce laughed describing the life adjustments that accompanied arrival for Basic Training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

“They picked us up [at the airport] on a bus and when we got to Fort Campbell, they about terrorized us with doing push-ups and standing with whatever you carried. It was the same all the way through the service. You were treated like genuine crap”

Their training barracks were similarly eye-opening.

“It was a big, open room except for the bathroom and shower room. The [toilets] were out in the open with no enclosures around them. The bunks were two high and they were all open – no rooms. There was a wall locker for each guy and a footlocker on the floor.”

Since Bruce and Francis were multi-sport athletes in high school, the physical training was not a challenge. In fact, they decided to make the final physical training test a statement of solidarity.

“Francis and I had a plan. Your final PT test [has] five different things. One included the mile run and beforehand we decided, ‘We’ll run at the same time and tie at the finish.’ (Bruce chuckled) We came in a perfect tie. The guys in our squad were going, ‘Oh, if you had done this or done that, you could have beat him!’ (Bruce laughed) This was a plan.”

Bruce remembered that a couple military training events gave him difficulty.

“We [had] bayonet training, where we had to attack tires mounted on posts. It’s amazing how hard a tire is. You can’t really get through it. (Bruce chuckled) I wasn’t very good at shooting. I probably shot in the middle or lower for accuracy.”

Bruce smiled while describing a part of their basic training that gave them some comic relief.

“We had a mascot in basic training, a little goat. He was so hard to get going, I’d just carry him. (Bruce chuckled) He was stubborn as a goat.”

The two friends from Lynd graduated from Basic Training and the Army sent them to Fort Polk, Louisiana for Advanced Individual Training (AIT).

“Fort Polk was known as a combat training place. I was an 11C10 — Eleven Charlie Ten. That’s 81mm mortars, plus, you’re still an infantryman, which is 11B — Eleven Bravo. We learned all about mortar training, which for three months in Vietnam actually got me an easier place. I stayed on a fire base for three months until the colonel said we’re not doing anything up there and we went back on the line, where Francis was all the time.”

Much of AIT has not stayed with Bruce, but he clearly recalled two parts. One was a day early in their training cycle when AIT trainers addressed Bruce’s training company.

“One instructor got up in front and said, ‘Ninety-nine out of a hundred of you guys are going to Vietnam.’ The instructor after him said he was wrong, ‘It’s a hundred out of a hundred of you going to Vietnam.'”

The other part of AIT that stands out with Bruce was his mortar training.

“Most of the training days were long and you fell asleep during class. Then we got into mortars. The time flew because you could be interested and think. You learned how to line up the two sticks and the [sight adjustments] up and down; how many meters it was going to go; and how many charges to use. There were little bag charges on the bottom [of the mortar rounds]. So, they’d say, ‘Charge one’ all the way up to ‘Charge Eight’ to go farther. They slipped on, so you could take them off and if you had to, you could put them back on.”

Bruce and Francis were in different training companies because of Bruce’s mortar training, but were within walking distance, so they could visit. Otherwise, Bruce was a bit of a loner, as he was in high school. He had friends, but generally kept to himself.

The two friends from Lynd graduated AIT in July 1968 and headed home for thirty days’ leave with orders for Vietnam. They reported for their overseas flight in early August and boarded a commercial airliner for the long flight to Vietnam.

Bruce didn’t spend much time thinking about what might lay ahead. “We were all in the same boat and didn’t think much about it,” he remembered, “We’d just see what comes when we land.”

Landing in Saigon, however, triggered emotions.

“We were scared to death and looking all over. We didn’t know until later that it was pretty secure there, but we were scared to death the whole year, you know? We laughed and had fun amongst ourselves, but I said one time, ‘This is just an empty laugh. We’re not really laughing here.'”

Welcome to the ‘Nam.

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.