By: Echo Rogers
Students of Hershey High learned why they were thanking local veterans.
On April 29, 2016, Hershey High School had their first Community Day. One such session was the Local Veterans class. Veterans, Rich Burton, Adley Eigen, and Frank Rowe, came to share their stories. All three of them gathered in the art room to share their experiences in Vietnam to the students of Hershey High school.
Burton shared his experiences first. He served in the infantry as a Second lieutenant and his job was to go into towns in Vietnam so he could persuade the people to not support the enemy. They played movies, handed out leaflets, and even ate with the townspeople.
However, Burton said, “I wouldn’t want to be in their position.” The family members were also trying to support their own sons in the war and even faced retaliation from the Vietnamese army if they attempted to help the Americans.
As for Eigen, he served in the Air Force as a C-130 mechanic. C-130s were cargo planes designed to carry 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of supplies (food, water, wounded soldiers, etc.)
“We had to be with the airplane everywhere it went,” Eigen said since he knew exactly what to do to fix these planes. These planes, he explained, were perfect for Vietnam because they could land everywhere in the rugged jungles of Vietnam.
With that, however, came consequences. The Vietnamese had bounties on these plans. Eigen said he’d seen several of them completely destroyed at his base in Taiwan but Eigen said he was lucky.
“The Vietnam War was a grunt war,” Eigen admitted, and he was just happy to have a shower and a bed. Most people including Row and Burton didn’t always have a bed and a shower. Plus, the C-130s were reliable planes, and Eigen said he thought he would return home in them despite the bounties. They were “ugly looking creatures” he said but he felt safe inside of them.
Lastly Rowe talked. He joined the armored division. He started out his presentation with saying, “You haven’t seen nothing till you’ve worked in Vietnam.” Instead of sharing some of his stories, he passed around objects that were used during the Vietnam including the Meals, Ready-to-Eat (the food they ate), the plates they used to eat, and artifacts he found in Vietnamese town (shoes, flags, etc).
Overall, this class provided some insights into what the Vietnam war was really like and the horrors some of the soldiers faced. Burton said, “It was just a different time.”
Diliana Farias said, “It was really great.” It gave the students of HHS a chance to see exactly what the soldiers faced, and it made her realize exactly what she was thanking the veterans for.
