Page 67 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2020- Online Magazine

ARMY
VIETNAM

PLAINVIEW
didn’t look good. He turned and looked at me, then professional counseling. Joe retired at age 62 and was
reached out and grabbed my shirt collar. He died finally declared 100% disabled by the VA.
holding onto me.”
The Traveling Vietnam Wall Brings
I was sent to the hospital in Long Bin where they Remembrance
began to work on my feet. I spent about three weeks
in a wheelchair; I had shrapnel in me everywhere. Joe said that for many years, he could not remember
In late August, my wounds became infected, and the name of the man who died holding his hand on
I was operated on a third time. Finally, in El Paso, that Huey back in Vietnam. He learned that this was
they used water therapy on my legs. I did a lot of his mind’s way of forgetting the trauma of that event.
drinking in those days. Before being transferred to Ft. Several years ago, the traveling Vietnam Wall came to
Hood to join the 2nd Armored Division, called ‘Hell Plainview, and Joe went to find that soldier’s name.
on Wheels’, I went home on leave and married my While a woman was searching for the information,
girlfriend, Rosa, who was waiting for me. I couldn’t Joe’s mind went back to that day, and it all became
do anything, so my first sergeant told me I could very clear. Before she could get to the name, Joe said
get out of the Army if I joined the National Guard. I to her, “I remember that he introduced himself to me
signed up and stayed with them until July 6, 1973. one day at base camp. He was Willie McCloud, from
Michigan.” For Joe, it was not just a time to remember,
but like so many other veterans before him, it became
a place of healing.

Civilian Life

Joe completed his high school requirements during his
time in the service by testing for the GED and passing
it on the first try. He attended Amarillo College in
the fall of 1973 and earned an Associate Degree in
diesel technology; he also attended Wayland Baptist
University. He and Rosa had a son, Jose, Jr., and a
daughter, Sonia. He got a job at Scott Tractor and
Equipment and worked there for 26 years, two as a
mechanic and 24 in management as a shop foreman.
Later, he worked as a correction officer for over 10
years near Plainview. He said he “started having
trouble (with PTSD) during the Iraq War.” His wife
said he had changed and encouraged him to seek

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