Sitting in the airport in Panama City, Florida, a gentleman sat down across from me. He was wearing a Vietnam Veterans hat.
My inner monologue sounded something like this, “Just talk to him… tell him thank you and about your book.”
Meanwhile the Southwest Airlines computer monitor and the airport monitor had conflicting information. One screen said our flight was delayed, the other said it was on time. I overheard the Veteran telling someone on the phone he wasn’t sure if he would be delayed or not.
Then one of the flight attendants behind me told someone else we were not delayed. When the Veteran got off the phone I relayed the information to him. Still trying to figure out how to tell him thank you for his service.
A few minutes later he opened the line of communication.
Veteran: Are you from California (pointing to my San Diego zip up sweatshirt)?
Me: No, I’m from Colorado. I am a teacher and got to go to training in San Diego last month.
V: My daughter is a 6th grade teacher in Texas. What do you teach?
Me: I am a high school English teacher.
V: Takes a deep breath, and with the most profound amount of caring in his voice said, “I think what you and my daughter do is incredible work.”
Me: (Pointing to his Vietnam hat) I was going to say the same to you! I’m learning about the Vietnam war from a book I’m reading. What you did and went through was powerful and …
V: My wife read that book!
Me: I wanted so badly to get to ask you about your experience and tell you thank you. I also have been very curious if the author did a good job with the story and the facts?
V: I haven’t read it, but my wife paused and asked me questions often. It was well done. My wife said it was the first time she could truly begin to understand what I/we went through.
V {Leaning in, and trying to hurry, our plane was starting to board}: Can I tell you a story?
In Vietnam I flew an F4. There was a mission where we had to go to Hanoi, that’s a city in your book, and drop what we had (some form of ammunition). However, it was a misty day and we had to go in blind. We knew we (U.S.) had men on the ground, eight of them. We had to complete the mission even though they were there.
I live in Texas now, and in 1981 (I knew I would remember the year, because that’s the year Tim was born) we had a drainage problem… Long story short, I hired someone to fix it. We got to talking and the man I hired was a Vietnam Vet as well. We discovered he was there that day, the day we had to drop blind. I was able to ask him if all eight of our men made it out. And they did. {Sits back in visual relief}
Me: That gave me goosebumps. What an incredible story. Thank you so much for sharing it with me.
V: You can tell that story to anyone. And I have more I can send you.
Me: {…reaching for my phone, but it was charging out of reach}
V {Opens his wallet and hands me his card}: Email me and I will email you back.
Me: Yes sir, I absolutely will. {Reaching out my hand} I’m Jamie, it was very nice to meet you and thank you for your story and your service.
V: Jamie, I’m John. Take care.
As I got on the plane I saw John in the first seat on the plane and he pointed at me and told me he looked forward to my email.
I told Tim the story of my interaction with John that I just told you on our way home from the Colorado Springs airport, and he informed me that the F4 sits right outside of Fremont County Airport.
When I woke up this morning I was in such an emotional state thinking about getting to email John. I know without a doubt the book, “The Women,” by Kristen Hannah had me captivated and eager to learn more from page one. It was an incredible opportunity to learn more about a time in history I knew nothing about. Reading this book gave me the opportunity to have the interaction with John.
Tim and I have had several conversations while having our morning coffee on the back deck this summer about the good stuff in life, the things we are chasing after. We always come back to the connections. Human connections with people, our people, people we care about and connections with men like John.
My heart hurt while reading the book, “The Women,” in a good way. It impacted me greatly, I told just about everyone I came in contact with about it and how important it was to me to learn about this part of our history.
I want to thank all of the women and men who were in the armed forces during the Vietnam war. I would love to hear your stories, if you are ready to share them. In the meantime, I think one thing I can do is urge everyone I know to read Kristen Hannah’s book, “The Women.”
