By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–A large crowd was on hand for Tuesday morning’s National Vietnam Veterans’ Day event sponsored by the Henry County Veterans’ Service office and held at the war memorial on the court square.
Vietnam Veteran Jerry Shankle spoke of his experiences and Jack Tarkington offered the invocation. Tarkington pointed to the names of the fallen Vietnam veterans on the war memorial and said, “The names on the wall could have been any of us. If you were there 50 years ago, you had someone somewhere praying for you, whether it be parents, friends or people you didn’t even know.”
Shankle recounted his experiences with the 101st and how harrowing they were, especially during the time period surrounding the Tet Offensive. “At that time, things got real busy real fast,” Shankle said. “The missions were longer and more often.” Soldiers were expected to be “quiet and invisible, with no trace left behind.”
He said the only sleep they got was sitting up with their backs against each other facing forward so they would be ready if they heard a sound. “That works on you after awhile,” he said. “After awhile, we were on survival mode, going on pure adrenaline.”
He lost track of time and didn’t even realize it was time for his to go home until the day arrived and he said once he was in a safe space, he ‘drank beer and cried my eyes out. Whatever had kept me going ran out on that day.”
He was physically ill with malaria and other ailments he did not know he had and suffered with PTSD, which he said his mother called “war nerves”. He talked about how veterans need the mental health and health benefits “all of us needed and deserved. Let’s try to help the brothers that need help.”
Veterans’ Services Officer Jon Bolding said that as a veteran himself, “I can only imagine” what the Vietnam veterans dealt with. All veterans should be “treated with respect”, he said, and thanked the Vietnam veterans and their dependents for their service.
Photo: Vietnam veterans gather in front of the war memorial on the courthouse lawn. Shannon McFarlin photo.