With Veterans Day on Sunday, the Free Lance tells the stories of three veterans who served the country
Robert Gonzales, Vietnam War
Vietnam War veteran Robert Gonzales tries not to think about his days in combat, but some days the memories come flooding back.
Veterans Day is usually one of those days.
At barely age 20, Gonzales, now 59, was shipped to Vietnam as a member of the Marine Corp. He was told he was expected to return as “only a body bag number.”
But Gonzales survived two tours in Vietnam and returned physically unharmed in late 1969. Still, the memories of over a year of “combat at least once a day” left their toll on him.
“There’s a lot of things that come back,” he said. “You put them away. You try to put them under lock and key, but they come back.”
Gonzales said his children and grandchildren have trouble believing he went through combat. Recently, his granddaughter had asked him about the war.
“I said, ‘War is sometimes important, but it’s the most ugly thing on the earth,'” Gonzales recalled.
His first day in Vietnam, Gonzales and the rest of his infantry were put in trenches. Throughout the entire day, bombs on the horizon shook the ground and his entire body, he said. Gonzales had questioned why he enlisted in the Marines in the first place.
“I told myself, ‘What the hell am I doing here?'” he said.
Despite his initial fear of dying, Gonzales said he soon became immune to the feelings.
“After my third firefight I became invincible. I didn’t even think about (death),” he said. “The next time I thought about it was when I got my 30-days notice to leave.
“I knew I was close.”
Gonzales said he prefers not to talk about his time in Vietnam because it can spark painful memories. But Friday, he shared a few recollections from that time – crawling on his stomach across a length of over five-football fields before it was safe to get up; the time he was removing booby traps and missed one, which was later recovered by he comrade to which he owes “his life”; and the time each of the three helicopters he was riding in were shot down in one day.
Still, most of the time he avoids talking about this part of his past.
After returning home, Gonzales said he couldn’t get the memories out of his head for some time. His father, a World War II veteran, helped him cope with the post-traumatic stress.
“He knew how to relate to me. He taught me how to bury the memories in the back of my mind,” Gonzales said. “I know a few guys that really lost it.
“If it wasn’t for my dad and older brother as well, I don’t know …”
He said he successfully suppressed most of his memories until Desert Storm jogged the emotions from his own experience. Now, with the images of the current war on news stations constantly, he said it’s hard to avoid thinking about it.
But despite the memories, he said he appreciates Veterans Day. A commander with the local American Legion, he said he’ll typically give a speech on the day and spend some time reflecting.
“It’s for all of us that we did this … I get a lot of ‘thank yous,'” he said. “It’s nice to get a little gratitude.”
Jack Trowbridge, World War II
A trained Air Force pilot, 90-year-old Jack Trowbridge counts himself lucky knowing he narrowly missed fighting in active duty on multiple occasions.
“We had a B-17 crew ready to go to Europe, and then peace came to Europe. Then we had a B-29 crew ready to go to the Pacific and we had peace in Japan, so I didn’t go overseas until peacetime,” Trowbridge said.
Still, as a trained bomber pilot who taught many students to fly planes and bombers, Trowbridge still made a significant contribution to World War II.
Throughout the 1940s, the long-retired lieutenant colonel trained cadets to be fighter pilots.
Trowbridge said he’s proud to be a war veteran. Every Veterans Day he flies his flag and dresses in his uniform – and it still fits.
“We had a lot of people who sacrificed a lot of things to serve in the military for the U.S.,” he said. “I think we should respect the people who were in the service.”
Zach Clifford, Iraq war
This Veterans Day will be only the fourth time Zach Clifford, 27, has been honored as a veteran.
His first Veterans Day, he marched in Hollister’s Veterans Day Parade.
Clifford enrolled in the Army Reserves right out of high school. As soon as the first bombs were dropped in Iraq, his unit was sent overseas to aid in the war.
In the scalding-hot desert, Clifford said they transferred supplies and performed patrols.
“When we got over there it was pretty rough: Just a desert and tents and no air conditioning,” he said.
Most of his memories of the war, he said, he can’t talk about.
But he said the fighting in the Iraq war was unlike any others.
“You don’t trust anybody. It’s not like a regular war – we couldn’t tell who was bad and who was good and when to have your guard up,” he said.
In March 2004, Clifford returned home with a knee injury.
Despite the need for a physical recovery, he said he adjusted fairly well to coming back as a civilian. But he said he knew many people who were not that lucky.
“I was able to leave that point of time behind me,” he said.
Still, Clifford said he often thinks back on his time in Iraq and his comrades who are still over there.
“People treat Veterans Day as a time to sit back and reflect, but it should be like that every day,” said. “I think about it every day.”
Clifford said even though public support for the war is waning, it shouldn’t affect how people act toward the troops.
“Support the war or not, I don’t really care,” he said. “But you should care about the people that are over there.”
