MVNS - A Differing Perspective

A Differing Perspective: The Story of Steve Judy's Experience in the Vietnam War

Early Life

Born in Franklin, West Virginia on the 24th of December 1944, Stephen M. Judy was born on a small farm. As a child, he worked on the farm constantly doing various jobs alongside his three brothers, and his youngest sister. His family was impoverished, and he details his reality as a son of a farmer; kids were another set of hands to help. His father was extremely strict, and although he was closer with his mother, he never had a strong emotional relationship with either of them. His home life was difficult, and school acted as an escape for him. In school, he joined various sports teams such as discus and shotput. During high school, he had close friends who he enjoyed entering farming competitions with and was successful in placing top 3 for every competition he was entered in. Eventually went on to graduate high school, technically he left the school before any official ceremony or diploma was given to him physically. Immediately after high school, Steve entered into the Marine Corps where he would have an invariably different experience than many soldiers who would eventually be shipped off to Vietnam.

Steve's bootcamp at Camp LeJeune in 1964.

Camp Pendleton in 1965.

Military Training

Immediately following his education, Steve enlisted in the Marine Corps where he was excited to leave home and make a life for himself. Steve started his military training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Accompanying him, he had his cousin, Richard Kyle, where they both learned very quickly the ins-and-outs of living at bootcamp. Steve describes his experience here as having extremely strict sergeants, intense training schedules, and violent punishments if they did not follow orders properly. Following his initial bootcamp training, he was sent to North Carolina, specifically Camp LeJeune in 1964. Here, Steve claims he learned what it meant to be a real soldier and a man. During his time at Camp LeJeune, he participated in active infantry training. Eventually, he was shipped off to his last training camp, Camp Pendleton in Carlsbad, California. From 1965 until 1967 when he was shipped off to Vietnam, Steve sustained an injury to his knee. While doing routine maneuvers and on night patrol, he was greatly injured by friendly fire and was forced to take a back seat to training. Instead, he was in charge of delivering and sorting mail for various units until his injuries healed fully. By the time his knee was fully healed, and he was ready to continue his service at Camp Pendelton, he was given new orders to go to war. These orders would change his life forever as he began his first and only tour in Vietnam in 1967.

Active Duty in Vietnam

[Speaking on how he earned his purple heart] "We just had shrapnel coming in [from the opposition], and I dove in the thing, and I got shrapnel on my hand. I just dove in there, and that was it...I got blood poisoning from that." -Steve Judy

Steve first touched down in Vietnam in 1967 on a U.S. air landing strip in Da Nang, where his orders were to "do nothing" for two weeks in order to be fully climatized to the weather. Following these two weeks, he would do various night patrols and spend time with his platoon which consisted of 48 men. During the war, he had the opportunity to get to know these men well and details how some of them responded poorly to war. He describes some soldiers who did not fare well during the war and struggled, one soldier even threatened his sergeant with a rifle in a particularly interesting interaction. Steve spent time on the Ho Chi Minh trail, but majority of his time was spent in Quang Tri and Quang Shrin. Quang Shrin is the village that Steve protected with his men for over a year, during this time he got to know the villagers intimately and even learned Vietnamese. He was fluent in the language, immersed in their culture, and befriended those he looked after. Steve has multiple distinctive stories of various encounters with locals, the realities and violence of war, and even had multiple health concerns whilst in Vietnam.

Leaving Vietnam

In 1969, two and a half years after his initial stationing, Steve was told he had to return back home to the United States. Steve's higher ups instructed him to leave Vietnam immediatley claiming he had been served in Vietnam for too long. Inititally upon hearing this, Steve disagreed incessantly. He claims he actually walked away from them, hoping that if he walked away they wouldn't go looking for him; in his mind, if he walked away, they would let him stay. Steve recollects that one of the hardest parts about Vietnam was leaving. Although he was not proud of the war efforts and agrees that America should have never gone in the first place, he also had grown fond of the village he had been protecting for almost two years. He states that he could have been happy staying there; he had learned the language fluently and had made many close friends. Much to Steve's dismay, the officers returned to get him with his bags already packed and a ticket to go home. Steve recollects how he wishes he had the opportunity to stay in contact with them, but there was no possible way. He looks back and reminisces on his time in his village of Quang Shrin and the friends he made there during his service. Steve left Vietnam with a bronze star and a purple heart for his service.

" They sent a truck out to get me. I said , 'no thank you, I'm not, extende me for another 3 months, 6 months. They took my weapons, they got my [stuff] and threw it in the truck and said, 'Let's go!'...[They] just came and took me; they said, 'You have got to go, you've had enough!' That was a pretty sad day. Yes, that was a sad day, a very sad day...to leave my friends."-Steve Judy

Above, is the praised certificate from the Republic of Vietnam in which they thank him for his duty and contributions to the war as an American. The first image is written in Vietnamese, and the image below it transaltes what the certificate says in English. He was granted this by the Vietnamese Republic in 1969.

Life After War: Homelife, PTSD and Volunteer Work

After returning home to California from Vietnam, Steve continued his service. He became an official military instructor at Camp Pendelton, and eventually went on to the national guard in 1976. While in the national guard, he became a fireman and also started his own small business of selling fire extinguishers. During this time in between his job at the national guard and selling fire extinguishers, he also was a mortician where he would embalm bodies. By 1983 though, Steve retired from mortuary work and the national guard and joined the Air Force. He served another two years and in 1985, retired from work altogether. He continued to volunteer as a firefighter due to his passion for the job. He aided various fire stations during the LA Riots in 1992 as well as the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. Steve eventually settled down with his now wife, Barbara Judy in Anaheim Hills where he continues to cope with his PTSD. Steve claims that his PTSD came on years after the war and occurred slowly and only increased in strength with time. He would get horrible nightmares and has shut out various violent and gruesome memories in order to try to cope with his emotions post-war. Steve has found coping with PTSD easier with the assistance of medicine which helps "block out" those difficult memories and feels all the better after doing so. Today, Steve resides in Anaheim Hills with his wife where he has a passion for making homemade beef jerky and takes pride in being the head of the neighborhood watch in his community.

Oral Interview of Steve Judy: Parts 1, 2, & 3

Part 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1axqiLi6fLu9hJAEOIGkTOtZd73WnOYSa/view?usp=share_link

Part 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ABIqyNGI4mUGVo16LB6TF26X-319T-uE/view?usp=share_link

Part 3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p7F6-vdN7fGF57ji484icWhWh6n9QZmU/view?usp=share_link

Transcript:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a3VFicff6-zYw8s7oiUgXsJzHGHSej1F4v7_TU_rsC0/edit?usp=sharing

Field Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/134vRPPyFSVLXVW7qSBsg4tI57mx4GIpXIGf2zIZ5RDY/edit?usp=sharing

Abstract:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ccS6EgfU6SAYU3_bHZBRCXnERgpq-Ct17b7MfwFtZE8/edit?usp=sharing

Key words: Marine corps, military training, bootcamp, Camp LeJeune, Camp Pendleton, Quang Tri, Quang Shrin, Ho Chi Minh trail, duty, PTSD.

Life Map:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MnmyeEIbdyAdCKH47hFZvRE_2GXNZWu8xiiZ-MNKnlA/edit?usp=sharing

Time Log:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rK_1QNXJLDSEY_WLGTpauq5TU1umKq54EszmqhVfk3Y/edit?usp=sharing

Title A Differing Perspective: The Story of Steve Judy's Experience in the Vietnam War

Description An oral history with Mr. Steve Judy, who was born in Franklin, West Virginia in 1944. The interview gives a personal account describing his upbringing, his enrollment into the military, and his experiences in a village in Vietnam that he protected. Mr. Judy was not fully formally educated, but was a graduate from high school. Following high school, he immediately was inducted into the military due to him trying to escape his poor family life and to make something of himself. After joining the Marine Corps, he began his military training at Parris Island and Camp LeJeune, which led to his eventual serving in Vietnam in 1967. Mr. Judy served two and a half years in Vietnam where he recounts in detail some of the realities of war, such as poor living and eating conditions and firsthand encounters with Vietnamese villagers. He describes his unique and personal experiences surrounding both the villages and villagers of Quang Tri and Quang Shrin, both of which he protected with his company. He spent most of his deployment in Vietnam in these two villages, while also going north to the Ho Chi Minh trail for a short amount of time. Judy was awarded a purple heart and bronze star during his service in Vietnam for his bravery and service in his company. After retiring from service, Mr. Judy went on to become a fire fighter for the National Guard as well as become a mortician for a local church. Today, Mr. Judy resides in Anaheim Hills, California where he lives with his wife of 30 years; he has received medical help for his PTSD following his time in Vietnam.

Birth Date December 24, 1944.

Interviewee Stephen M. Judy

Interviewer Grant Dunn

Date Created December 8, 2022

Duration 01:57:58

Language English

Bibliography:

Brown, Obadiah, and Chris Haughey. Interview of Bill Ayers. Other, March 25, 2015. https://michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu/antivietnamwar/exhibits/show/exhibit/draft_protests/the-military-draft-during-the-.

“Ed Blanco.” Vietnam War, October 10, 2017. https://vietnamwar.nyhistory.org/oral-histories/ed-blanco/.

“Former Soldiers' Stories Show Contrasts between Draftee and All Volunteer Enlistments.” www.army.mil. https://www.army.mil/article/115510/former_soldiers_stories_show_contrasts_between_draftee_and_all_volunteer_enlistments.

Johnson, Loch. “Political Alienation among Vietnam Veterans.” The Western Political Quarterly 29, no. 3 (1976): 398–409. https://doi.org/10.2307/447512.

Marini, Christina M., Katherine L. Fiori, Janet M. Wilmoth, Anica Pless Kaiser, and Lynn M. Martire. “Psychological Adjustment of Aging Vietnam Veterans: The Role of Social Network Ties in Reengaging with Wartime Memories.” Gerontology. Karger Publishers, September 10, 2019. https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/502340.

“The Military Draft during the Vietnam War.” Omeka RSS. https://michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu/antivietnamwar/exhibits/show/exhibit/draft_protests/the-military-draft-during-the-.

“Vietnam: One Soldier's Story.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/two-days-in-october-enlisted-men-vietnam/.

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