Looking for stories of homecoming from Vietnam veterans

Since 07-02-04

From: Tonja Cox [mailto:tweety@webound.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2004 8:42 PM
To: vetissues@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [vetissues] Looking for stories of homecoming from Vietnam veterans

HI, My name is Tonja Cox, and another veteran gave me this link to use to contact more veterans who might wish to tell their stories for publication. I just completed my Master's Thesis, concerning homecoming stories of Vietnam veterans, and it was well received, both professionally and by veterans who participated.

I have been advised by several professors to continue the work and submit it for publication. To get these stories out there for the public to see and hopefully come to understand what Vietnam veterans experienced then and still experience today, I need more stories to make it book length. Anyone wishing to participate should email me at tweety@webound.com .

To give you a little info about me, I was a former employee of the VA back in
1978 and I saw firsthand the discrimination against Vietnam veterans seeking assistance from the VA. I was working there when a veteran applied 6 times for hospitalization for what is now called PTSD. He said he was having flashbacks, and was terribly afraid he would hurt someone. He was the janitor of our local grade school and didn't want to hurt the children, or anyone else.

Every month, he was denied. In fact, my supervisor never submitted the paperwork I so meticulously filled out in triplicate. He stamped it denied and filed it. I was infuriated then. But a few days after his sixth denial, he went home, and during one of his "flashbacks," he took the shotgun down from the gun rack, got down behind the sofa, and when his wife came through the door carrying decorations for their daughter's wedding reception the next week, he blew her head off, fighting the enemy in his mind. He told the police he never saw her.

When I heard, I quit the VA that day and never went back. I swore I would do something to let people know about the kind of treatment these men were receiving from those who should have understood. My boss often made me give up my comfortable chair for the WWII Vets who came in to chew the fat. But let a Vietnam vet walk in and he was lucky to be in the office long enough to use the metal folding chair in front of the desk. I just couldn't accept it.

Back in 1988, I had the opportunity to publish a few articles for a Veteran's Day issue of a newspaper. I spoke with several veterans then, and the articles were well received, especially by the veterans who seemed relieved to have a chance to talk about what had happened to them. I got the same reception when I started working on my Master's thesis.

The support has been overwhelming. I would be happy to send a copy of the work to anyone interested in participating. I want to know about your homecoming experiences. How you were treated when you came home, by the public, your family, your friends, the government, etc. And how you feel today in the face of the Iraq War.

I look forward to hearing from more of you. I can give you contact info for some of the others who have participated, if you would like a reference. Please help me get this information out there to a public who may be more willing to understand now than they were back then.

Tonja Cox HCR 1, Box 870 Pontiac, MO 65729
417-679-3006