WILL AM-FM-TV’s project to capture and share the stories of central Illinois Vietnam War veterans and their families has been completed. We thank the many people who contributed to this effort.
Bill Martin of North Pekin, Illinois joined the Army in 1965 and served in Quy Nhơn, Vietnam for 18 months as a forward observer for artillery units where he coordinated communications for firing rounds and adjusted coordinates for the soldiers. Ever since returning from the war, Martin has been involved in several organizations that aid and celebrate American war veterans.
Wade Lemons of Sesser, Illinois was drafted into the military right out of high school where he joined the infantry and fought in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Lemons, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, provides a detailed first-hand account of how he survived day-to-day on the ground in wartime.
Daniel Kennedy served as an adjutant in the Army from 1969 – 1976 and was also an aviator. He made phone calls to young men telling them when they were going to be deployed in Vietnam. Kennedy himself was never deployed, and suffered “survivor’s guilt” for several years.
Randall Richardson served as an Army infantry platoon leader during the Vietnam War from 1969-1971. He survived combat and a life- threatening note from one of his soldiers and fired upon a group of Montagnards. He’s a better father and worker as a result of his military training.
During the Vietnam War, Timothy Kendall was a student at Notre Dame where his thinking about the war evolved gradually until he became a pacifist. He was later imprisoned after refusing to comply with the draft.
Richard Hertel served in the Army as a personnel clerk and chapel organist in Phu Loi during the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1970. Upon returning home, he started a long journey of divorcing his wife, separating from his daughter and coming out as a gay man.
Terry Hairrell of Waukegan, Illinois served in the Army from 1967 – 1969. While on combat missions in Vietnam, he was awarded a Purple Heart. His war experiences scarred him deeply; but with help of a loving wife, he has recovered to make meaning of his experiences with those he served.
Ut Ha grew up in Da Lat Vietnam, one of eight children, in the 1960s and 1970s. She survived multiple acts of war, invasion and displacement. In 1990, she moved to the United States with her husband, Bon Bui, a former prisoner of war.
Richard Friemel served in the Air Force as an airplane mechanic during the Vietnam War and was exposed to Agent Orange which he believes caused his heart condition.
Bon Bui was born in Quảng Bình, Vietnam in 1946 and fled to the South during the war. He became a South Vietnamese Marine during the war and was trained by US forces in the United States. After Saigon fell in 1975, he become a prisoner of war for 10 years before finally relocating to America under an asylum program. Bui recounts the atrocities of war first hand.
