From the Tobacco Fields to the Killing Fields and Back

Robert Wall is 18, living on a farm in North Carolina. He wants adventure and excitement and joins the Army. His first overseas tour takes him to Korea for 16 months, then to Fort Polk, Louisiana. He is discharged in 1957. Restless, he joins the Air Force in 1958 and is assigned to Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas for Jet Engine Repair School. He's shipped to Everux-Fauville Air Base in France for 18 months, then to Edwards Air Force Base, California. Discharged in 1962 he decides to re-enlist in the Army. After basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he graduated from International Morse Code School and volunteered for Special Forces (Green Berets). After successfully completing parachute school at Fort Benning, Georgia he was shipped to Fort Bragg, North Carolina and completed 8 months of Special Forces training. After additional Special Forces training for 18 months in Okinawa he volunteered for duty in Vietnam, serving 12 months as a communications supervisor. In 1968 he volunteered again for Vietnam, this time assigned to the top-secret outfit; MACV-SOG. Sent to Khe Sanh, he and his team ran reconnaissance missions in Laos and the Ho Chi Minh Trail, going from North Vietnam to South Vietnam, tolerating heat and jungle. After this tour he volunteered for the Canal Zone, working as a communication supervisor in Honduras until 1971. He spent the last 3 years of his enlistment as Operations Sergeant and Acting First Sergeant at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. He retired August 1975.