Erling B. Jenson was greeted by a grim reality after landing in Vietnam in December 1967.
“As we got out of the plane, we watched them load the caskets into the bottom of the plane,” he said. “That made it real. It wasn’t like we were just going to talk and go home.”
Jenson arrived a month before the Tet Offensive, a period of intense fighting when he saw bodies stacked like firewood on the side of the road. But his most painful memory might be from when his plane touched down in Portland after 11 months of service as an Army infantryman.
“What really makes you mad is having people try to spit on that coffin with a flag on it or spit on you,” he said. “I just sort of melted away and didn’t say anything about it.”
Did You Know?
• Approximately 2.7 million American men and women served in the Vietnam War.
• More than 58,000 Americans were killed, from 1956 to 1975, or remain missing today.
• Fatalities include 1,047 Americans from Washington.
Those days are gone. On Friday afternoon, Jenson was among about 50 Vietnam-era veterans who received lapel pins thanking them for their service on National Vietnam Veterans Day.
Darwin Goodspeed, director of the VA Portland Health Care System, passed out pins to veterans at the Vancouver VA campus.
“One of the most painful chapters in our history was Vietnam, most particularly how we treated our service members,” Goodspeed said at the start of the presentation. “Our returning Vietnam veterans were often blamed for a war they didn’t start, when they should have been commended for serving our country with honor and valor.”
Vietnam veterans were sometimes blamed for the misdeeds of the few, instead of praised for the honorable service of the many, Goodspeed said.
“It was a national shame, a disgrace, that should have never happened,” he said. “And that’s why we are here today. We resolve that it will not happen again.”
A line of veterans, some in wheelchairs and many wearing ball caps marking their service, lined up to receive pins that offer a simple message on the back: “A Grateful Nation Thanks and Honors You.”
Goodspeed echoed those words as he greeted each veteran.
“On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your service and welcome home,” he said.
Jenson said he and others welcomed being thanked for their service.
“Deep inside, all veterans appreciate that,” he said.
Living veterans who served in the U.S. military between Nov. 1, 1955, and May 15, 1975, are eligible to receive Vietnam veteran lapel pins, regardless of where they served.
Two years ago, President Donald Trump signed a federal law designating March 29 and National Vietnam Veterans day. That date coincides when the Military Assistance Command Vietnam was formally deactivated in 1973, but the Vietnam War would last another two years. The final two Americans, both Marines, were killed in a rocket attack on April 29, 1975, one day before Saigon fell, marking the end of long, costly war.
Jenson, who is 72 today, grew up on a 9-acre farm in Orchards. Two weeks after getting married, he received his draft notice. And he immediately knew he was going to Vietnam.
“It was accepted because it was the law,” he said about the draft. “Kids from my time were taught to obey the law.”
Jenson still uses the lingo of an Army infantryman from the Vietnam era. “Charlie” refers to the Viet Cong guerillas. “KIA” is an abbreviation for killed in action.
“We weren’t prepared for the things we were going to see,” he said.
One of his first memories after being deployed to the Mekong Delta south of Saigon was seeing soldiers riding in an armored personnel carrier. Strapped to its front was the bloated corpse of a Viet Cong guerilla, his body riddled with bullet holes.
Jenson remembers “ear hunters” who sliced ears off enemy dead and kept them as battlefield trophies. Suspected Viet Cong guerillas were sent away for interrogation, never to be seen again.
“Sometimes when you look back at it, you wonder how people can be so inhumane,” Jenson said. “But they did it to us there, too.”
Despite that sentiment, Jenson holds no grudges against the Vietnamese, whom he described as “good people.”
“The whole war could have been avoided, because the Vietnamese didn’t want another colonial ruler,” he said.
Unlike other Vietnam veterans, he has no interest in visiting the country where he served a half century ago.
“I don’t want to go back there because I go back there every night,” he said about his memories.
Jenson took home more than disturbing memories. On Friday, he wore a navy shirt with a logo saying, “Agent Orange Health Club. Life Member.”
Jenson said he is convinced that widespread defoliant use in Vietnam during the 1960s caused heart disease, diabetes and other health problems he has today.
“They just slopped that stuff around,” he said. “You tracked through that stuff on bushes as night.”
Jenson said he didn’t discuss his wartime experiences for 40 years after returning home. He already had a son before going to Vietnam, and he would father five more children after his service. He had no time for memories from an unpopular war, not with a growing family to feed and a busy job working as a garbage-truck driver for the Leichner Brothers.
That didn’t prevent Jenson from having anger issues and outbursts. His children “felt like they had to walk on eggshells,” he said, which finally caused his wife to take action.
“My wife called the VA and said, “You have to do something,’ ” he said.
Jenson said went through counseling and group sessions with other veterans to cope with buried memories.
“It has really worked,” he said. “They put their money where their mouth is. The only fool is the guy who doesn’t show up.”
Jenson is an unabashed supporter of the VA and talks at length about the excellent care he has received, both medical and mental care.
“If you let the VA do their job and don’t push them and work with them, you become a very happy man,” he said.
Jenson has spent this year in the Vancouver VA campus’ Community Living Center. He broke his left foot in three places on Jan. 1 after becoming light-headed and catching his foot under the bed as he tumbled over.
“That was a great New Year’s,” he said. “I have been in the VA ever since.”
The VA, he said, is facing an onslaught as Vietnam veterans continue to age and younger veterans from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq require more assistance.
“They are trying to gear up for that,” he said. “They don’t need someone cutting their budget.”
