Rudy Garzon Morris served in Vietnam as an Army tanker.
Rudy’s older brother was in the Marine Corps in the mid sixties. Rudy’s father served in the US Navy during WWII. Rudy did basic training in Fort Ord, California in 1970, AIT in Fort Knox, and was in Nam 1970 to 1971. He was in Chi Chi, Pleiku, and Quang Tri, to name a few. Rudy did mark a map of Nam all of the places that he had been to. I have all of my husband’s orders and letters that he sent me from Nam. We planned our wedding through letters back and forth during his tour in Nam. It was nothing like the soldiers communicating home now. We communicated only through letters. This is our wedding picture from July 17, 1971. So much happened in our lives over the last 40 plus years…
They were on the border of Cambodia and Laos where they weren’t supposed to be. Rudy relived his memories of war. We never knew when he was with us and/or when he was in Nam. We had to deal with his PTSD for 40 years mostly on our own. There was one memory that Rudy talked about where a Black American soldier killed Rudy’s buddy, Terry Albright over a yellow towel that a Vietnamese girl had given him. Then the soldier turned the gun on Rudy who blanked out what happened after Terry was shot and could never remember how he did not get shot. That day changed Rudy forever. Rudy spoke of another incident when their tank got hit and was on fire. Rudy went inside and pulled out a wounded buddy just in time before the tank blew up. He was put in for Purple Heart but was told he was just doing his job and never received one. He also talked about the Agent Orange raining down on them and drinking and bathing in the water. Rudy got some small pieces of shrapnel in his tummy from a tank blowing up. He was lucky.
His greatest fear was not making it home and dealing with a few drugged up soldiers in his units some of who apparently had a choice of jail or going into Army. It was really tough on the military guys after having to shoot kids that were rigged with bombs. He came home a very angry person. It was really tough dealing with him and to start our marriage at same time. One time he almost strangled me. When he realized what he was doing he stopped and broke down and cried. He promised he would never do that again and didn’t.
After returning home from Nam, Rudy could not wear his uniform, but was still called a baby killer and spit on. When the United States pulled out of Vietnam, my husband was angry because we lost so many young guys for nothing.
If Rudy wasn’t at work, he was golfing and never missed work. But he began having nausea and coming home early with the complaint of smelling something that reminded him of Nam. Since we had been together so long, I knew that something was wrong and called the doctor. The doctor was surprised that I called on that basis but explained the smells ere mini seizures. Rudy never had a full-blown seizure. The smells stopped after his surgery but the tumor grew back each time. He had a total of 4 Gamma Knife tumors, which were growing on both sides of his brain, at which hospice began. After his doctor told him to not drive anymore, I took him back and forth to play golf. He golfed right up to September 2011. We knew that when he quit golfing, he would be gone from us soon. Rudy lived 21 months after the initial diagnosis in March 2010 and passed away two months before he turned 60. Death seems to bring out the worst in some family members and at times splits the family apart. This family photo of Rudy with our grandchildren was taken on our annual trip to Pumpkin Patch. It was a good day for Rudy.
I began the group Vietnam Veterans with Glioblatoma Multiforme Stage 4 Brain Cancer group www.facebook.com/groups/VietnamVeteranGlioblastom/ in an ongoing effort looking for Nam Vets with GBM-4 Brain cancer to add to the ever growing list with the Veterans Administration who still says Agent Orange did not the cause GBM-4 Brain Cancer. We will continue to fight until the Glioblastoma Multiforme Brain Tumor is on the VA’s Presumptive list.
~ Margee Simon Morris
Veteran Interviews and Stories Compiled by Jenny La Sala www.JennyLasala.com
