Vietnam Vet Makes Return To Rebuild
Clinic, Rose Garden To Be Built
POSTED: 4:10 p.m. PDT April 16, 2002
UPDATED: 5:16 p.m. PDT April 16, 2002
ELK GROVE, Calif. -- A Vietnam War veteran is returning to the place that changed his life forever.
Thirty-five years ago, retired postal worker Bill McDonald was just 20 years old and a crew chief and door-gunner on a huey helicopter.
"When I left to go to Vietnam, nobody cared. When I came back, it was worse than nobody cared. They hated me. And now I am going back for a 35th-anniversary journey," McDonald said.
The decorated war veteran earned dozens of medals, including the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. It's an accomplishment he only recently recognized.
"They were totally meaningless to anybody up until just a few years ago when I finally said 'I am not ashamed,'" McDonald said.
McDonald is now returning to Vietnam to rebuild what he and other soldiers tore down.
"Ultimately, you go back to someplace where you blew up the landscape, and you come back and help establish in some minor part a clinic, set up a rose garden, symbolizing peace," McDonald said.
The Sharon Ann Lane Clinic will treat the residents of a small remote village. And the rose garden will serve as peace offering.
While in Vietnam, McDonald will also work closely with the same men he fought against 35 years ago.
"To meet their families and listen to their side of the story and have a meal together. It's very symbolic now," McDonald said.
The details of McDonald's return to Vietnam will be posted on his Web site, called "the Vietnam experience." To see it, click here.
Thirty-five years ago, retired postal worker Bill McDonald was just 20 years old and a crew chief and door-gunner on a huey helicopter.
"When I left to go to Vietnam, nobody cared. When I came back, it was worse than nobody cared. They hated me. And now I am going back for a 35th-anniversary journey," McDonald said.
The decorated war veteran earned dozens of medals, including the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. It's an accomplishment he only recently recognized.
"They were totally meaningless to anybody up until just a few years ago when I finally said 'I am not ashamed,'" McDonald said.
McDonald is now returning to Vietnam to rebuild what he and other soldiers tore down.
"Ultimately, you go back to someplace where you blew up the landscape, and you come back and help establish in some minor part a clinic, set up a rose garden, symbolizing peace," McDonald said.
The Sharon Ann Lane Clinic will treat the residents of a small remote village. And the rose garden will serve as peace offering.
While in Vietnam, McDonald will also work closely with the same men he fought against 35 years ago.
"To meet their families and listen to their side of the story and have a meal together. It's very symbolic now," McDonald said.
The details of McDonald's return to Vietnam will be posted on his Web site, called "the Vietnam experience." To see it, click here.
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