Kerry was in RVN for four months then got himself DEROSd with three light-scratch Purple Hearts (three’s a charm under Navy regs).
I did my year. Until 2004 I thought you had to be wounded, court-martialed, or dead to leave country early. Silly me.
I got sick with something and was sent to Japan for about a month. When I was asked whether I’d rather go back to the States or Vietnam, I said Vietnam. I guess I felt that there was something there yet to do, and I wanted to be back with my buds.
I went back to Vietnam with my daughter in 2000. I’d always thought it a beautiful country, and the people of the South still love Americans. And this time there was no shooting.