My presentations with slides are on three subjects—Post-Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI) (which I suffer from as a consequence of my time in combat), the 1967 battle of Dak To in the Vietnam highlands, and the fall of Saigon.
As this is written, I haven’t yet given the PTSI presentation. As noted earlier in this blog, I’ve been hesitant to speak publicly about my malady but came to realize that I can help others with the affliction by telling publicly how I’ve coped with it. I’m now scheduled to give the presentation twice in the next two months.
The Dak To presentation recounts my experience in supporting the U.S. 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade in one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam war and tells of how the intelligence I provided on the North Vietnamese wasn’t believed, resulting in severe casualties. My next scheduled presentation on Dak To will be in February.
Far and away my most popular presentation is on the fall of Saigon. I’ve now done it more than 60 times, most recently on 17 January, and I’m scheduled to do it again on 26 January. It tells of my desperate struggle to get my 43 subordinates safely out of the country before the North Vietnamese attacked Saigon in April 1975 and my own escape under fire after the North Vietnamese were already in the streets.
More tomorrow.
Tom Glenn, Writer 