I'm Going! (Page 4/4)
maryjane OCT 08, 03:12 PM
Sorry, I've been really busy vehicle shopping with my wife...


Somewhere after we reached cruising speed and got leveled off, and the seatbelt warning lights were off our primary spokesperson came on the plane speaker and explained what we all already knew but we had a few non-veteran passengers aboard to fill out the seats. Paraphrased..." When you're deployed, the one single thing troops and sailors looked forward to was mail call. Not as important nowadays since cell phones are available thru satellite tech, but in decades past, it was really important. In Vietnam, Korea, WW2 etc it could sometimes be weeks before mail caught up with you if your unit changed locations or you were moved from one company or battalion to another and that was one of the bright spots in my flying, we took mail to LZs and firebases any time we went.
So, that announcement was the signal for our Austin guardians to get up and open some of the overhead storage doors. We were gonna have mail call!

They brought big Manilla envelopes with each of our names in magic marker. and handed them out. We each got one. Mine was filled with letters and cards from my family back in East Texas, my sisters, nieces, old neighbors. That's when I knew what my wife had wanted to use my phone for back in July and August and what he original contact lady had wanted to talk to her in private about... A conspiracy! My wife doesn't know how I keep names on my phone (usernames often) so she really couldn't contaxt all I have in my contacts so she missed the ones from here at PFF and my Marine pals from a different website.

It was a pretty emotional time, the plane got very quiet and once again, old men's eyes were misty. I was opening some from my nieces, and 2 of the guardians came back up to my row of seats, and just pointed at me. Almost accusatory like. Said one word.
GREYBEARD!?
"uh, yeah, some people know me by that name.." I kinda offered in my defense.... afraid they were fixing to throw me out onto the wing.

"Well, since we know your email begins with the word 'cowman', and you defitely have a grey beard, & looking at some of the addresses, this has to be yours"

She handed me another big FAT manila envelope with 'Greybeard' scrawled on it, stuffed full and I opened it.
Love and support came flowing out of it. NThere wasn't much room cramped up in a plane seat but i reached in and pulled some out. The very first one I opened, was a home made card, 1/2 sheet of construction paper, folded in 1/2 to make a card, a hand drawn heart, crayon colored in on the front and the sweetest little note inside "Dear Mr Greybeard" it began, in a child's hand printing... "Thank you for all you have done for and to protect...."
A 10 year old named Ollie with brown hair and loves softball..

I won't type it all because I'd have to type all of them here and there are a lot! But at that point, I looked down in that big envelope, & I am done!. I didn't even try to keep it together & I bawled like a baby. I saw ranch and farm names from a cattle related website called Cattle Today that I frequent a lot nowadays, peoples real names I wasn't sure of, and I was just a mess at that point. But I wasn't the only one on the plane like that. The Coastguardsman sitting beside me was non-stop sniffling and wiping his eyes too as he went thru his own envelope..

There were also some too, from a different ag website I used to post at and read everyday but I haven't been back to in years,. (I guess I better dig out my old notebook with username and password so I can thank them properly

I couldn't open them all on the plane as there wasn't time or room and I just couldn't figure out how it came about because my wife never looks at Cattle Today or any other ag website I'm on.
But, now that I've been home and had time to read them all, and have solved the mystery of 'how/who'.... To someone up in Tennessee and her family, a very special thanks for evidently getting the ball rolling. She read my post on the ag forum that I was going on Honor Flight and she is very deeply involved as a guardian with Honor Flight where they live, so she just covertly put the word out...
(This is not all of them, just wasn't room on the floor, I hadn't opened them all when I took this photo and I'm backed into a closet just to get this shot.) The flags& suspenders etc, , i'll explain in a bit. Not related to the mailcall.)



So, it wasn't too much later in the flight, the seatbelt light comes back on, and we have to stuff things away...we're almost home again...It's been a hell of a long tiring, emotional rollercoaster ride for 36 hours...


We arrived back in Austin Saturday night just as the sun was about to set. Grab our bags, go inside the secure part of the terminal where the boarding gates are and line up, so they can once again check our nametags (I guess to make sure no one had jumped out at 30,000 ft?) It's all pretty much deserted as we followed the vets in wheelchairs back down the same way we had followed the color guard a day earlier, turn left out toward the main lobby thru a narrow corridor , make another left into the oddly darkened long wide lobby and get ready for the trek to the entrance doors (our exit now). It's been a great trip, but exhausting and we're emotionally and physically drained...the youngest among us is in his early 70s. We're tired and ready to meet our families and go home. Wife & I have a 70 mile trip back hometo Copperas Cove.

The lights suddenly come on, public address system comes up, some music starts Stars and Stripes Forever/God Bless America and the non security part of the place is packed. Hundreds. Not travelers this late. Our friends, families, just citizens from Austin come out to meet us. On both sides of us, signs, balloons, everyone has a flag to wave. They're clapping and yelling and coming up to shake our hands. The waterworks are flowing again all over among us, and I start looking for my wife. I just can't find her then at the very end where the 2 lines close up like the bottom of a 'U', there are my 2 older sisters, one in her 80s and in a wheelchair, the other just a few years younger 3 of my nieces, all came from near Houston just to see me 'come home'. Each, waving American and Marine Corps flags. Some welcome home baskets.. My wife steps out from behind them, bawlin and I hold her tighter than I ever have. I try to talk to them but I can't. I have no pictures of that, and it's probably a good thing.
After a bit when I could put a few words together, I learn they have rented an airbnb over just East of Austin and want us to come stay the night with them but we have a 2 hour drive, dogs at home to look after so we all go to the closest restaurant instead for breakfast (again, Denny's) to eat and talk. For the next 2 hours, I told all about my trip, and then for the first time ever, talked more to them about my time in Vietnam than I ever did before. Some closure now, some demons maybe cut down. It's been a long 54 years. I left as a kid, came home a man & broken and alone inside but maybe no more.

God Bless you all here and thanks for reading and thanks for the support you've always shown me for the last 2 1/2 decades..
olejoedad OCT 08, 03:29 PM
What a great experience for you and the other veterans.
I hope that each and every one of you find the peace and closure that you desire.
Bless all of you.
cliffw OCT 10, 01:12 PM
What a rich experience for you. Your postings enrich me. Thank you. I even teared up a few times.
Raydar OCT 10, 04:44 PM

quote
Originally posted by maryjane:
...
and then for the first time ever, talked more to them about my time in Vietnam than I ever did before. Some closure now, some demons maybe cut down. It's been a long 54 years. I left as a kid, came home a man & broken and alone inside but maybe no more.

God Bless you all here and thanks for reading and thanks for the support you've always shown me for the last 2 1/2 decades..



Speaking of "waterworks". Jeez...

It makes me truly happy to read, especially, your last few lines, in addition to the preceding paragraphs.
'Nam vets got a raw deal - especially when they came home. I was, as I've posted before, too young to have "shared" in the experience, and all the other stuff that went down, surrounding that. But I've heard the stories.
I humbly thank you for all that you have endured and experienced, on our behalf. It's something that I can never repay, other than by trying to keep the faith (in our country and its constitution) alive.
If I ever make it out that way, or if you ever make it out this way, adult beverages (or coffee if you prefer) are on me.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 10-10-2025).]

blackrams OCT 10, 10:32 PM
Don,
Thanks for posting this. Admittedly, it hit me hard. Yourself and those who served during that time deserve one hell of a lot more credit than what you got upon returning.

While active duty as a Marine, I provided escorts, funeral detail and honor guard for those who had served like yourself. Saying I have respect for those who served is leaving a large gap in how much I sincerely appreciate their (and your) service and sacrifice. Honestly, I very proud to call you and service members like you friend.

Rams

[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 10-10-2025).]