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army | vietnam

in the mid-1980s. I learned that I had PTS (Post-
Traumatic Stress), and it was kicking my butt. I
took a medical retirement in 1985 and am now on
100% disability from the VA.”

Wayne went on the 2018 Texas South Plains Honor
Flight. The Vietnam Wall was especially tough
for Wayne. “The Wall caused me a lot of mental
stress. My cousin was killed on one of the last days
of the war when a C-5A crashed (at Tan Son Nhut
Air Base).” The C-5A was participating in the first
mission of Operation Babylift on April 4, 1975. It
was the third deadliest accident involving a U.S.
which consisted of the Khamir Rouge, the Laotian military airplane. 314 people died, including 78
Army, and the NVA (North Vietnamese Army). One of children, 25 Defense Attaché employees, and 11 Air
our guys went into a village and kidnapped an NVA Force personnel.
Intelligence officer. He was spotted by a villager, and
all hell broke loose. The villagers started coming after The cost of war is so much greater than the price
us. We were about 500 yards out when we opened up of equipping and sustaining a military force. Post-
on the meeting. They never saw us. Then our patrol got traumatic stress has taken its toll on countless veterans
hit by an enemy patrol from behind us. We bugged out throughout our history. But Wayne Gee doesn’t dwell on
and returned to Okinawa.” It was on this mission that his disability. He said, “I want to be remembered just for
an incident involving the killing of a Vietcong (guerilla) the fact that I was there (in Vietnam) and did my duty.”
would come back to haunt Gee years later.

“After this incident, I decided that I’d had enough and
didn’t want to go on any more patrols. That didn’t
go over well, so I was sent to the stockade for four
months. I guess because of my service record, they
decided to give me a general discharge. I left out of Gene Messer Toyota
Okinawa on an AC-141, the USS Spirit of Oklahoma
City. Back in California, I took a bus to Lubbock
and then back to Oakland Army Air Terminal to be Driven with Honor.
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discharged on November 27, 1965.
“I worked as a cook at the Hi-D-Ho (restaurant) and at
a lot of construction sites. I worked for my father-in- We Support Our Veterans
law at his wholesale window business. My wife and I
married December 1, 1966. We had two sons, Jered and
Eric, and a daughter, Julia. In the mid-1980s, I earned
a nursing degree at South Plains College. I worked as
a coronary care nurse at Methodist Hospital teaching
advanced life support and CPR, and performing
catheter lab angiograms, angioplasty, and pacemakers. Tacoma TRD Sport Camry
At one time, my wife, one son, and our daughter all
worked in the Methodist coronary department.

The horror of that fateful day back in 1965 finally GeneMesserToyota.com | (806) 748-4800
caught up with Wayne. “I started having nightmares 6102 W. 19th St, Lubbock, TX 79407

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