Al, Louie and Me
As I mentioned in my memoir "Vietnam: There and Back - A Combat Medic's Chronicle", I met Al Torsiello from Union, NJ as soon as I...
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On Memorial Day
I was born four years after World War Two ended and grew up in the 50’s in a small Midwestern community and lived just outside the city...
Casualties of War
Over 58,200 men and a few women were killed during the Vietnam War and hundreds of thousands were wounded. It’s been estimated that as...
HILL 352
The Vietnam Veteran Memorial Fund (VVFM) posted an article on Facebook recently that caught my eye. And the reason it resonated with me...
The Songwriter's Songwriter John Prine
Back in the early 70's, while going to college, I stopped in to my favorite hang out Terry's Bar shortly before noon and the blonde...
STOLEN VALOR
D. J. Burkett and Glenna Whitely wrote a very well respected book titled “Stolen Valor” about people who have never served in the...
Thanks for your Service
Like many combat vets returning from Vietnam, my homecoming was rather uneventful. I flew from Seattle to Chicago and then from Chicago...
Agent Orange
The month of October has been designated as Agent Orange month so I can’t let this month pass without commenting on it. I’m no scientist,...
FORGOTTEN NO MORE
Eight years ago, several of my siblings and I purchased a Legacy Stone at the Veteran's Memorial "The Highground" in Neillsville, WI to...
Living a Lie
On March 26, 1982, I was living in Silver Spring, MD and working for the Federal Government. The day before, I noticed while reading the...
Memorial Day
The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history and because we suffered so many casualties a need existed to create national...
Veteran Suicide - 22 a Day
Before I went into the Army, I grew up in a rural neighborhood in Oshkosh, WI with lots of other kids. It was the 1960’s and many of us...
Remembering Hector Gomez
When I was in Vietnam with the 1/6 198th Light Infantry Brigade, one of my platoon mates was a guy named Hector Gomez. He was from Texas...
Ambush
When I was assigned to an infantry company in February 1968 it was Charlie Company 1/6th 198th infantry and we patrolled areas west of...
LIVING IN FEAR
I arrived in Vietnam in February 1968 and after a few day stay in the country club of Vietnam (Cam Rahn Bay), where I thought I was to...
Jody
Jody was a mythical figure allegedly derived from another mythical character an African-American named Joe D. Grinder. Joe D. Grinder,...
Viewing War Through Music
In my introductory post, I mentioned the reason I turned to songwriting about veteran related issues and it was primarily to deal with...
Viewing War Through Music
MEMOIRS OF A MEDIC My name is Jim Purtell and I’m a Vietnam veteran having served as a combat medic with the 198th Infantry in 1968-1969...
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