Army veteran reflects on Vietnam War

NORWALK — U.S. Army veteran John Hunt planned on doing an apprenticeship with his uncle, a civil engineer.

U.S. Army veteran John Hunt shakes hands with Mindy Soisson-Calhoun, of the Huron County Veteran Service Commission, after receiving two medals for his service in Vietnam. BONNIE GFELL/HCVSO

“He helped build the Hoover Dam and things of that nature and I was going to be his apprentice. Well, he died of a heart attack; that washed away my apprenticeship and I just kinda left college after about four months,” Hunt said.

Then he received a notice that the U.S. Army had drafted him.

“I wanted to hold off for a while because I wanted to get married, so I went down and enlisted,” Hunt said.

The Army gave him a three- to six-month furlough before he entered the service. Starting in 1969, he served for one month short of three years.

Hunt wasn’t well received upon his return from Vietnam. When he came off the plane, people behind a screen barrier “were saying things and trying to throw tomatoes over the top of the screen.”

“You’d want to walk up to them and beat them in the head and knock some sense into them. But they’re like kids; you could tell them something and they don’t listen. They’ve got their ways,” Hunt said. “So now I’ve learned there are a hundred million people out there in the world and every one of them has their own opinions.”   

Hunt took advantage of the G.I. Bill and earned an associate degree in business management at the Wooster Business College.

 On July 20, the Huron County Veteran Service Commission presented him with two medals for his service in Vietnam: The Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Medal Unit Citation and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. Prior to the meeting, during an appointment with a veteran service officer, Hunt learned that he was owed the medals.

 Hunt, now 74, was asked what the most valuable thing was he learned while in the Army.

 “It was how lucky I had it here in the United States because of how bad it was in Vietnam,” he said. “Everybody back here had it so easy and they just didn’t understand. And I think even today they don’t understand.”