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We have been learning about Marshall's George Seldat and his Vietnam service. George grew up in Decatur, Illinois, enlisted in the Army in 1967 after receiving a draft call, trained at the Military Intelligence School at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, and deployed to Vietnam in April 1968.
George traveled throughout central Vietnam for Detachment 2 of the Intelligence staff of 1st Field Force Vietnam, visiting forward fire bases and units to collect information on their communications and information security. He looked out for the men of his squad with the goal of returning them home safely. Finally, he spent off-time helping at a Catholic orphanage and teaching art for students at St. Joseph's Mission, a Catholic school.
He returned to the U.S. in April 1969. His flight arrived at a California processing center where the returnees showered, rested, and received new uniforms before taking the flight that delivered them home.
"That was the first time, when I got on the plane and it took off, you felt like you were on your way and the rest of it was behind you. That was the first time you had the chance to absorb what's happened; you're decompressing. I remember feeling I was in uniform with a lot of folks around."
Listening to other passengers left him ill at ease.
"There were women talking about their daughters and sons and what they were doing in college, dating and so forth. What went through my mind was, 'Only a matter of hours ago I was with people I was close to and I left and they were getting shot at.' You wanted to yell at those people to talk about something serious, 'Do you not realize what is going on over there?'"
But as George was feeling self-conscious and alienated, he gained an unexpected seat partner.
"This guy walks by and said, 'Is that seat open?' I said, 'Yeah.' This was strange because the flight had taken off and we were in our assigned seats. But he sat down and asked, 'Did you just get back?' I said, 'Yeah, I did.' I've often wondered was it because of how I looked. Most of us were sunburned, depending on where you were in country. He offered to buy me a drink. We chatted for a while, but it wasn't pushy. I appreciated that. He recognized I was just getting back from Vietnam. I sensed he felt the level of discomfort I was experiencing. He was a bit of an anchor. That's the only way I can explain it."
George was home from Vietnam, but still had nearly two years remaining on his enlistment. He took leave at home before reporting to his follow-on assignment in Kassel, Germany.
"Germany was fun. I, along with two others, were responsible for the European Theater for the particular job we had to do. We were again on temporary duty. I had civilian status at that time where I could use my own car. I had purchased a 124 Sport Spider, which was a neat little car to run around the country in. I worked in civilian clothes and stayed in civilian facilities. I had a Top Secret Crypto NATO clearance at that point, so we were working with a lot of intelligence information."
His Germany assignment led to an unexpected, lifelong change.
"We were in a restaurant and a friend had a little too much to drink. These girls walk in and he says, 'I went to college with that girl.' I said, 'David, you're drunk. That's not true.' So, we had a beer bet. I said, 'What was the name of the school? You write it down.' He wrote Gustavus Adolphus down on a coaster. I took the coaster; walked over to where they were sitting; handed the coaster the girl and said, 'Did you go to this college?' She said, 'Yeah, I did!' That was how the two groups -- the three of us and the women -- met and spent time together. That's how I met my wife and we dated while she was in Europe. She stayed for a year on her own and we got married. We've been married (over 50) years, now."
George reflected on what it was like to serve in Vietnam.
"I never felt like there was down time. It was the most intense period in my life. I counted every day. You absorb things. You see; you feel; you smell. Your mind is telling you that you are in harm's way. Your mind is telling you that you have to stay awake --you can't sleep. You can't stop observing everything around you. Try living that way for even a day -- how that drains you emotionally and physically. You live more intensely than you will ever live again in your life."
He also reflected on how his Vietnam service influenced his life.
"You walk away from that realizing that there is a lot of hardship in the world. My roots for teaching probably go back to St. Joseph's Mission. The best tool we can use to deal with the problems we have as a world is education -- knowledge. I think that is my biggest motivator. Every day when I walk into class I think about the guys that didn't get back and you've got a reason for being there."
Thank you for your Vietnam service, George. 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.