Ken Irons
U.S. Navy
I received this in December. Sorry for the delay in posting.
Hey Jack, I received my copy of “When We Came Home” and I am about to the half-way point. I guess that I was fortunate in my homecoming.
Got discharge from Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Portsmouth Va., via Nav Sta Norfolk. I have family in Norfolk so was able to just take a city bus home. My state of mind was such, though, that I contacted a friend in California and he invited me to come out and spend some time with him and his family. This was the summer of 1966. By fall of the following year I had enrolled in a junior college and after a year there was able to transfer over to Cal Poly Pomona. I graduated in 1974 with a BS degree.
During my college time, I hitch-hiked around the country from coast to coast, the Sierras and Grand Canyon and lived in a teepee for a couple of years. That gave me time enough to settle myself down and more or less worked my emotions back into some sort of shape. What has really helped by joining these various vet’s groups and hearing their stories is how we have all been sharing similar feelings re the war and coming back to the world.
I thank the good Lord for walking with me in my travels both here and one there. I had contemplated suicide a couple of times while in Nam and, thankfully, was able to avoid it. I am 82 now going for 83 and have a good life I look back and think about. I can only pray that the peace I have found can be found by my fellow veterans, and especially those returning home from the battles of today. Take care and God bless all.
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Published by Jack McCabe
Jack McCabe was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from high school in 1969 at the age of 17 and two days after he turned 18 he joined the Army. He was sent to Vietnam less than a year later in October of 1970. He extended for a second tour and finally came home for good at the end of May 1972. He finished his three-year enlistment at Fort Huachuca, Arizona and returned home to Chicago.
After his return from Vietnam, he pursued his education using the G.I. Bill, receiving an associate degree in electronics engineering from DeVry Institute. He eventually continued his education by attending night school and received his bachelor’s degree in business and management from Northeastern Illinois University in 1981, at the age of 30.
He owned his own business for 20 years and then sold real estate for 20 more retiring to North Carolina, where he became a certified Peer Support Specialist with a veteran designation.
He has a deep passion for helping veterans especially fellow Vietnam veterans. He now devotes his time volunteering with the YMCA Resource Gateway in Gaston County, NC where he handles all the calls from those with past military service. He helps veterans with PTSD, financial crisis’s, substance abuse, homelessness and veteran benefits. He also provides Peer Support services in PTSD group therapy programs at the Flint Groves Baptist Church in Gastonia, NC.
Jack believes that the most important thing he can do is to give Vietnam and all veterans a voice. By sharing their stories veterans understand that they are not alone. There are many going through the same struggles as they are.
For non-veterans, he hopes they will understand the struggles veterans face when they return home from war.
View all posts by Jack McCabe
What a beautiful story! So many of us have failed to see and fully appreciate this beautiful nation, but I am sure that getting out there and seeing it, from the ground, gave you an appreciation for life and the strength to persevere.
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Welcome Home Brother — I spent 28 months in Vietnam with the Seabees including TET 68. I too have found help with various Veteran group. My story is in Jacks book about WHEN WE CAME HOME !!!
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