I had a lonely childhood and was separated from most of my siblings into the harsh life in a Catholic orphanage in Virginia.

My brother and I were unceremoniously dumped in the orphanage by our drunken and war-traumatized father and quickly learned the realities of life. I was a “malcontent renegade” in the eyes of the nuns, because I fought for the dignity of my brother and myself. We were later returned to our father who had dismissed and abandoned us in the earlier years. At the age of 17 with no hope for the future, I visited the recruiter’s office and enlisted in the Army.

In August 1967, and after a tour in Alaska and six months in Germany, I volunteered for Vietnam. My rites of passage to manhood would come later while serving in the dank and dark jungles of Nam with Company F, 51st Long Range Patrol (Airborne) Infantry. The second picture shows me on the far right as team leader. Left to right is Dan Lindsey, Rodney Barker, Earl Lequire and myself. The next picture is of me at the F/51 LRP front gate. The company was named “Camp Lindsey-Lattin” in honor of the first two men KIA. This is the unit that the US Army War College studied to form the current-day Army Ranger Battalions. The records clearly exhibit why. No other small-size unit has a body count and record like F Company, 51st LRP (Airborne) Infantry. It made me become a man.

I always wanted to be a writer, though as a kid I was told by many an adult that I didn’t have what it took to be one. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, kids with dyslexia were relegated to the “dumb” side of the classroom. I was one of those kids. I finally published I SERVED, a first-person account of my experiences.

My website is www.SilentVictory.com and I have recently completed an award-winning documentary Silent Victory with a trailer on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9qINb6wm5k&app=desktop
~ Don Hall, Vietnam Veteran and author of I SERVED, available on Amazon www.amazon.com/I-Served-Don-C-Hall/dp/1552124894/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467216048&sr=1-1&keywords=i+served+books