Daily Nebraskan
Friday, May 4, 1C34
Pago 6
Vietnam experience...
Continued from P&3 1
Welcome to the war
As the Boeing 727 approached the airport at Sai
gon, the pilot informed the passengers that other
incoming airliners had been hit by ground fire. To
avoid getting shot down, the pilot said, the plane
would have to dive steeply onto the runway. Wel
come to the Republic of South Vietnam.
After a week of indoctrination, Foreman received
orders to report to the Ninth Infantry Division
headquarters at Bien Phuoc. He arrived at his unit,
where he was Issued a rifle and medic bag and then
introduced to the other medics. A couple of days
later he went on his first; mission a vertical assault
on a landing zone, then a sweep through enemy
area.
There I was in this helicopter with a bunch of
guys I didn't even know," he said. "I looked down and
could see flares popping off and helicopter gunships
passing back and forth strafing the area."
After his unit reached the ground, the platoon
moved out. About an hour later, firing could be
heard at the front of the column and a rumor was
passed back that "we got a couple."
When he reached the head of the.column, Fore
man learned that the "point man" had killed one
enemy soldier outright and probably another whose
body couldn't be found. The platoon commander, a
lieutenant, told Foreman it was his duty to inspect
the dead enemy soldiers and directed him to a
water-filled rice paddy. All he could see was a hand
sticking up out of the water. Another soldier helped
Foreman drag the body from the water.
"He was a young guy," Foreman said of the dead
soldier, "about 19. He was a medic, too."
Told that some of the other medics liked to per
form autopsies on the enemy dead, Foreman
declined. The unit took a lunch break and Foreman
and some of the others began eating their C-rations
"no more than a couple of feet from the dead sold
ier." Before leaving, some of the American soldiers
stripped the dead man of his belongings, folded his
arms over his chest and placed weeds in his hands.
Fear of responsibility
Ten days later Foreman was called upon to care
for wounded for the Jirst time. His unit was on a
routine sweep when an explosion blasted through
the jungle. A call for a medic brought Foreman to a
place where three men were on the ground, covered
with blood and screaming for help. T
"They, were looking at me; asking me to' do some
thing," he said. "I only had 1 0 weeks of training."
The wounded had been hit by schrapnel from an
American grenade rigged to a trip wire. Foreman
cleaned the blood away and dressed the wounds as
best he could. A short time later a medical evacua
tion helicopter, or "dustoff chopper," arrived. The
wounded were' loaded aboard and then "back to
quiet and we're walking again."
That episode demonstrated Foreman's biggest
fear while in Vietnam. Responsibility. Not the Viet
Cong. Not the jungle rot and diseases. Not being in
combat. Responsibility. The worry that he would be
thrust into a situation where he wouldn't be able to
perform. Or worse, would make a mistake.
"They told me when I first got there that only the
gooAmedics made it out of Vietnam," he said. "The
bad ones didn't even make it out of the field.
"When you're in a life-and-death situation like
that, those guys want to make sure that you're going
to take care of them. They can't afford someone
who's going to be screwing off or on dope. Their lives
depend on you."
Like nearly all combat medics, Foreman had the
nickname of "Doc." The job and the name elevated
his status among the other soldiers. They took care
of him and expected that, if something should
happen, he would take care of them.
Fortunately, Foreman said, he never had to treat
anyone who was seriously wounded. His constant
fear was having to treat burn victims. Little could be
done for them, he said, except to try to relieve the
pain.
"The worst thing I had to do was comfort the guys
who were dying " he said.
It was something he did often.
Wounded end alone
And then, suddenly, Foreman's role was reversed.
In February, just three months after Foreman
arrived in Vietnam, he was hit.
The complexion of the war had begun to change,
with the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong
forces conducting major offensive operations.
Foreman's unit was sent to a base camp called Cai
Lai He'd heard horror stories about it.
"We got our asses kicked whenever we went
there."
He can still recall with picture-perfect clarity the
events which occurred the day he was wounded. He
was riding in an armored personnel carrier with the
platoon commander. Theirs was the lead vehicle.
They ha d been sent to check out an area where some
Viet Cong had been sighted. Foreman said he wasn't
paying much attention since he had gone on many
such searches with negative results.
Suddenly, a Viet Cong soldier "popped up" and
started running toward some bushes. Bill scrambled
for his rifle while another soldier fired an M-79 gre-
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nade launcher into the bushes where the man had
disappeared. "That shouldVe got him," the man said.
Itdidnt.
In an instant, rifle and rocket fire came from the
same bushes and struck the vehicle and the men on
it. A powerful force knocked Foreman down. He
clawed the back of the APC; trying to keep low.
Rockets flew by just inches over his1 head. His arm
was numb. rf,
As he looked down into the APQ he could see one
of the other soldiers lying on the floor, dead. He
knew he had to get inside the APC to be safe. He
jumped in, landing on the dead man. While he lay
there he put pressure on his shoulder to stop the
flow of blood. He then grabbed the radio to call for
help. No answer.
"All kinds of weird thoughts were going through
my mind," he said. "I took a grenade out and held
onto it. I was determined not to be taken POW."
He tried again and again to call for a dustoff
chopper, each time without success. He worried
that no one was within the range of the radio.
Finally a voice, crystal clear, replied, "Yes, we can
hear you." But still no help. And the sounds of the
battle raged on outside the APC.
'In bad shape .J
Later, his platoon sergeant stuck his head in the
rear door of the APC. He appeared surprised to see
Foreman lying there. "Doc," he said, "you're in bad
shape." Then he left.
Finally another medic arrived and helped him
out. The two walked upright past men crouched in
fighting positions. Small arms fire buzzed around
them. Slowly, painfully, they made their way to the
helicopter landing zone. A short time later he was
air-lifted to Dong Tam and the Third Surgical
Hospital.
Soon after he arrived he was rushed into surgery.
"You know you're going to lose your arm, don't
you?" asked the doctor.
"No, I didn't know." .
Foreman woke up freezing, although the temper
ature was well above 90 degrees. He was surprised
to find he'd had a tracheotomy, that is, a hole had
been cut in his throat and a tube placed there to
help him breathe.
Foreman spent seven days in intensive care. Two
or three times a day the area would come under
artillery fire. Foreman and the other patients would
be put on the floor with flak jackets on their chests
and helmets on their faces.
Just behind the hospital an enclosure for Viet
Cong POWs had been constructed. When Foreman
could walk, he had to go by it on his way to the
latrine.
"If someone had. given me a gun, I would have
killed every one of them," he said.
From Dong Tam, Foreman went to "Bear Cat," the
code name for the Ninth Infantry Division head
quarters, then to Long Binh and finally to Ton Son
Nhut for transport back to the United States.
As he was waiting to be loaded onto the plane,
Foreman watched a number of GIs in a staging area
waiting to leave. He remembered a time a few weeks
earlier when an enemy rocket had landed in the
same area, killing 50.
"Only after the landing gear came up I thought I
finally made it,' " he said.
Physical and emotional handicaps
Foreman was transported from Vietnam to Travis
Air Force Base in California. The next day he flew to
Denver for further medical observation and rehabil
itation. He was reunited with his family and began
the "strange transition" back to normal life.
"People were going on as usual," he said. "But only
a few hours away by air, other people were fighting
and dying. They just didnt know. And didnt want to
know. I tried to tell my brother, but I felt like he just
couldnt understand. It was mind bending."
Foreman stayed at the hospital in Denver for six
months. He began a rehabilitation process that
dealt with two handicaps. Physical and emotional.
Physically, Foreman had to learn to live with one
Lou Anna ZsctkDtHy h'ebraskan
arm. The doctors fitted him with a prosthetic device,
a metal arm with a pinching mechanism. More diffi
cult was learning to perform simple, everyday tasks
with one hand. Tasks like cutting fingernails (he
puts the clippers between his heels) and tying shoe
laces (he steps on one string). But, little by little, he
progressed.
Emotionally, it was another story. Soon after
Foreman arrived in Denver he began some "hard
drinking and carousing." He spent his nights drink
ing and his days abusing any prescription drug he
could find. He was kicked out of bars for fighting. He
avoided jail only by the good graces of the Denver
police.
"It was all a rebellion . . . against the military and
society as a whole," he said. "I was really pissed
about losing my arm."
For Foreman, the disabled veteran status was a
"license to raise hell." The drinking and fighting reaf
firmed his manliness, which was compromised by
the loss of his arm. The rebellion continued after he
was discharged and returned to Nebraska.
Foreman went back to Peru State College to finish
his education. He began to identify himself in the
role of hero. Often he went to the VFW club in Peru,
wearing his Army fatigue jacket. He swapped war
stories with other veterans.
Marriage a 'conquest'
Not long after Foreman returned to college, he
began dating the woman who would be his first wife.
Dating and marrying her was a "conquest" for him.
He had known her when he went to college earlier,
but she wanted nothing to do with him. She was a
cheerleader and went out with a basketball player.
But Foreman returned from the war a hero in her
eyes. They were married just 1 5 months after he was
wounded.
"It wasn't right, but I was feeling like 'Now I can
win her " he said. "It was the ultimate challenge."
Foreman graduated and he and his wife went to
Beatrice to teach. The marriage was all downhill
from there. Foreman kept up his hard drinking and
late nights. And worse, he joined a local motorcycle
club. His wife didn't think it looked right for a school
teacher's husband to do such things. The resulting
strain disintegrated what was left of the marriage.
"The motorcycle club was a rebellion, too," he said.
"I needed to reestablish my identity and thumb my
nose at society."
The other bikers considered Foreman to be pretty
tough. He was a veteran of combat in Vietnam. He'd
had his arm blown off. His club nickname was
"Hooker."
While the other bikers were getting in trouble with
the law, Foreman started seeing another woman,
Marcie. This one didnt try to change him. Rather,
when he went drinking, she went with him. When he
went on the road with his motorcycle, she went with
him. Later, when he decided to o to graduate
school, she went with him.
F oreman decided to continue hh education after
reading a catalogue from the University of Wiscon
sin at Menomonie. Of particular interest was a mas
ter's program in vocations rehabilitation. The cata
logue explained that participants should know
about disabilities. ..Foreman knew about that, all
right. ; i .,.V.V;---:"
And so he went. He and Hard 2. With hb first
marriage ended and under the burden cf the gradu
ate work, Foreman's drinking and carousir. gradu
ally lessened. He began to feel a sens o cf responsibil
ity, a need to accomplish soir.cthir; restive.
Foreman received hLs master's (!; ; rc2 ar. i went to
work as a rehabilitation counselor Li Koclord, I1L
He and Marcie were married shortly after they
arrived. They stayed there about erht irxnihs and
then went to Lacrosse, Vcice. where Foreman worked
as an alcoholism counselor. Since that time, he has
worked exclusively for the Vetercns Adirinistra
uon. lie has had jobs in California, Miehrpn, Texas
and now, Nebraska.