Vietnam Didn’t End When Art Came Home
By Mary Lynn Heath
“You know the homeless people you see downtown how about half of them are Vietnam War Veterans?” Art Bickley sincerely asks. “Well that would have been me if it wasn’t for my wife and my mother and father in law.”
Enlisted in 1965, Art Bickley was as an Airman First Class airplane mechanic crew chief on an AC-47 gunship at Bhin Thuy Air Force Base. There he worked 12 to 18 hour days to prepare and repair airplanes to fly missions. At 20-years-old, he was known as “Pops” to his crew.
In 1967 he returned to the U.S. for 30 days to marry the love of his life, Shirley Eudy. The trip almost took his life when his returning aircraft was hit by mortar and exploded. This was typical of the journey home. The night before his base was attacked by enemy mortar, and he endured four more fire attacks in route to Saigon to board his flight back to the United States.
Mortar attacks were almost nightly during the Tet Offensive, a north Vietcong military strike campaign, launched on the first day of the lunar New Year at the end of January and continued through mid September. This holiday period of Tết Nguyên Đán, is the most recognized in Vietnam and was suppose to be a time of seize fire. “At times the South Vietnamese man working on the base during the day would be the same guy shooting at us at night,” Art explains.
“A couple of the traitors were barbers on the base,” Art says. It really disturbed Art when he realized his barbers couldn’t be trusted because he liked them. He says one of the infidels was shot point blank in the head on the American base by the Commander of the South Vietnam Air Force, Nguyen Cao Ky, who later became Prime Minister and Vice President of the Republic of Vietnam. “They never cleaned up the blood,” Art recalls.
Ultimately, it was the trip back to Oklahoma to marry Shirley that saved his life. With Shirley and her parent’s help Art was able to move forward with living after Vietnam--an effort much more difficult than he ever imagined.
“My father-in-law, Guy Eudy, was a World War II Veteran so he had a better idea than anybody of what I was going through. Still, the first eight years after I came home were terrible. My family went through a lot,” Art reveals as his eyes dampen. He adds that many families were affected by their returning fathers and sons who couldn’t forget the horrors they saw and lived during Vietnam.
Families also endured torment by reading about their loved one’s death in the local papers, later to realize the report was incorrect. “The Daily Oklahoman and Omaha Herald had me dead three times,” Art says. “When our base was under fire we couldn’t get the mail out and it was reported that we were overrun. We were never overrun, the areas surrounding us were.”
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Art survived more than three dozen mortar attacks, a little more than half a dozen ground assaults and one direct hit on his bunker. “When our bunker was hit two men were wounded badly and were sent home,” Art remembers. “I don’t know how I kept from getting hurt in that.” With humbleness Art reveals that he never felt like a hero. However, he expresses that the men who were badly wounded, captured and especially who lost their lives in Vietnam are certainly heroes.
He returned to the Untied States for good in 1968 and worked as an airplane mechanic. Art’s struggle to normality was uphill and involved nightmares, painful recalls and a society that seemed to persecute anyone who was involved with the “Vietnam conflict” in any way. “I can remember sitting in church and the minister was denouncing Vietnam from the pulpit.” Art says. “We got spit on, called murderers … compared to being crazy.”
Art explains that many Vietnam Veterans didn’t fit into society upon returning home. “We were numbers and pushed through the system quickly,” Art says. He adds that the mental health of returning soldiers wasn’t addressed. “There are a lot more programs now for those who have served and fought in war. It’s better now.”
After 32 years Art retired from Tinker in 2003 where he had continued his career as an airplane mechanic. He is the proud dad of two grown sons, Colby and Dusty, and five endearing grandchildren. Because he deeply loves his country, Art is glad he enlisted and served in Vietnam. “God, country and family,” Art says are his core beliefs. He says every graduate of high school, young men and women, should spend two years in the service. “Today young people have no real concept of what the years behind have put forth to provide what they’re enjoying.”
Art has seen a replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Midwest City and says it was very difficult to visit. However, he hopes people will come to see The Dignity Memorial® Vietnam Wall in Piedmont over the 4th of July holiday weekend to remember what others have sacrificed for freedom.
Note: The Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC names 58,196 soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. According to www.suicidewall.com more than 150,000 Vietnam Veterans have taken their own lives since the war ended. From facts reported on the National Coalition of Homeless Veterans website (http://www.nchv.org/) it is estimated that around 141,000 Vietnam Veterans are homeless at some time during the year.
To volunteer to help host the Dignity Memorial® Vietnam Wall during the 4th of July weekend please contact Brooke Kuns: brookek@piedmont-ok.gov at Piedmont City Hall at 373-2621. For updates on The Dignity Memorial® Vietnam Wall visit our Piedmont community website: www.piedmontok.org