JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For many veterans who served in Vietnam, the years since have been filled with PTSD and painful memories.
Samuel Nelson Jr. served 50 years ago. He’s 77 now and lives in Arlington, but remembers every moment leading up to the Vietnam War.
“My Aunt told me, she said, ‘This is a letter from you from the White House.’ And then I opened it and it said, ‘greetings from the President of the United States, you have been inducted into the United States Army,” Nelson said.
Just like that, Nelson went from high school graduate to soldier.
He spent 13 months in Vietnam.
“I seen a lot. I lost a lot of friends. I got wounded on May 14, 1969. We went out that day with about 60, 70 people. Four came back, I was one,” said Nelson.
He mailed pictures home to his family and told them he was doing well, but his reality was far from that.
“We’d stay awake two or three days fighting. I went 52 days without a bath or shave sometimes. I stayed in the water for six months. I pulled up my sock, my flesh came off my feet. It’s called jungle rot,” Nelson said.
His service earned him two Purple Hearts, four Bronze Stars, and a “V” for valor in combat. He’ll tell you quickly, he didn’t fight for recognition.
“I didn’t look for no Purple Heart, no Bronze Star. I did my job. That was my duty to do,” said Nelson.
In the decades since being honorably discharged, Nelson said he still deals with PTSD and sleepless nights.
“They treated me bad coming back. There was no welcome parade or nothing like that,” said Nelson.
Nelson says a simple “thank you for your service” goes a long way for him and every veteran.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
