September 21—JAMESTOWN — A Jamestown man and Vietnam War veteran will travel to Washington, DC on Sunday, September 22, on ND/MN’s Veterans Honor Flight.
Lloyd Fuglestad, 76, a U.S. Army veteran, will be traveling with veterans Cary Fuglestad, his brother, and Alan Gunkle, his brother-in-law.
“What are the chances of that happening?” said Lloyd Fuglestad.
He said his son will also be going on the Honor Flight to document the trip and take photos. Fuglestad said he plans to create a booklet about the trip, similar to one his wife, Yvonne, created about his service in the U.S. Army.
The Honor Flight honors veterans by bringing them to Washington, D.C. to visit memorials built to commemorate their service and sacrifice, according to the website. The Honor Flight transports approximately 22,500 veterans to Washington, D.C. each year.
Fuglestad said a veteran who went with the Honor Flight convinced him to fill out the paperwork to go.
“I’ve heard about it a lot, but I thought other guys should go too,” he said. “He just impressed upon me that we (veterans) should all go.”
Fuglestad said the veteran had seen how Vietnam War veterans were treated when they returned from overseas.
“He felt guilty that we didn’t go first, but that’s not right,” Fuglestad said. “The generation that’s going by should go first.”
Fuglestad said he filled out the paperwork for the Honor Flight and received a letter a little over a month ago saying he was going.
“This is remarkable,” he said, referring to finding out he would be joining his brother and brother-in-law on the honor flight.
The three will depart Fargo on Sunday and return on Tuesday evening, September 24.
Fuglestad is originally from Hope, North Dakota. He said he attended basic training at Fort Lewis in January 1969 and from there went to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for six months of electronics training.
Fuglestad said he went to Vietnam, where he did carpentry work that involved building huts for the military. He also said he volunteered for a long-range reconnaissance patrol.
He said a long-range reconnaissance patrol involves a group of seven to 20 people observing the movements of Vietnamese forces.
“We had to be there to observe,” he said. “They found us twice and shot at us a little bit.”
He said the veteran reconnaissance patrol called themselves the “sneak and peek” because they sneak around unnoticed and report what they see.
“When infantry had to comb an area, we gave them a little indication of what to expect,” Fuglestad said.
He said that when Vietnam veterans returned, they didn’t know what to expect from American citizens because of the protests in the streets.
“You didn’t know who was going to yell at you or say ‘Thank you,’ which I never got until about 25 or 30 years later, when I started wearing a hat that said Vietnam,” he said. “Most of us came back, I think, and didn’t advertise that we’d been to Vietnam.”
Fuglestad said Vietnam War veterans returned to the U.S. and saw photos of people standing face to face with veterans, yelling at them and cursing at them.
“A big word they used, but they never told me, was they called us ‘baby killers,'” he said. “… If anyone wanted to yell and scream at us, it should have been the politicians, but I think we were the easiest target.”
The Vietnam War cost the lives of more than 58,000 American servicemen and another 150,000 were wounded.
“I’ve wondered for years why? What did we do?” Fuglestad said. “I was there and I did what I was told to do. I just feel like decisions are made and it doesn’t matter how many men are lost.”
During the Honor Flight, Fuglestad said he will see everything he can, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. He said he is most anxious to see the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and find the names of the service members he served with.
“That will be very difficult for me, and I’m sure it will be difficult for many of us as well,” he said.
After Fuglestad returns from the trip, he wants to plan a family trip to Washington, DC.
Fuglestad said all veterans should consider joining the Honor Flight. He said veterans don’t have to be combat veterans to join the Honor Flight.
“Even the guys in the state had to come from here to get there,” he said.
