U.S. Army Vietnam Palos Heights, IL Flight date: June, 2019
By Bob Pomorski, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interviews Volunteer
In spite of enduring many hardships, Joseph Lamy remains a positive, caring, family man who is proud to have served his country.
Joe grew up on the southside of Chicago in what was known as South Works. The area was named after the famous US Steel manufacturing plant. Multiple generations of family members, including his father, worked at the mills.
Growing up as the oldest of three children, Joe felt that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and end up working at the steel plant.
For the longest time, Joe did not apply himself in school. He focused on sports like baseball and basketball. Then, while at Bowen High School, he needed tutoring to write a research paper. His tutor changed his opinion on school and his life. She was the first person to give him confidence in himself and told him “you can do whatever you want in life.” School became his number one priority.
Then, 1965 came around, and things were heating up halfway around the world in a place called Vietnam. U.S. troop involvement in the war was escalating. Joe received a random letter in the mail indicating that he was drafted into the Army; this was before the “draft lottery” was instituted. He was not surprised, because most of his friends that lived on the South East side were being drafted. Joe felt destined to serve in the military because he had many uncles and cousins that served in both World War II and Korea. He remembers his uncle who was in the Army Air Corp saying “Wait to get drafted – you don’t want them to say, “you wanted them,” you want them to say, ‘We Wanted You!’”
For the young man who never left the southside, Joe went through processing in Chicago, then boarded a bus to Fort Knox in Kentucky and then was off to Fort Hood in Texas where he spent the next 10 weeks in boot camp. While at Fort Hood, Joe excelled at testing, especially on the medical exams. Having taken four years of Latin in high school enabled him to decipher the various parts of the body and muscles which were described in Latin on the exams.
From there, Joe was sent to work in the medical buildings and the hospital located at Fort Meade, Maryland. Fort Meade was the home of the 11th Army Armored Cavalry Regiment known as the “Blackhorse.” While at Fort Meade, Joe gained valuable experience in both the operating room and recovery. He also learned how to drive a tank and armored personnel carriers (APCs). Next up for Joe was advanced infantry training at Camp Pickett, Virginia, with the Army Rangers. This is where he learned how to be a combat medic.
After advanced training, Joe was sent back to Fort Meade to re-join the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. With the war really heating up, the regiment thought they were being sent to Germany to await further orders. Instead, they were sent to Xuan Loc in Vietnam. Joe boarded the merchant marine style ship and set sail for what was to be a grueling 30-day voyage. He was assigned to the bottom level of the ship where the temperature was over one hundred degrees. The ship was overcrowded and he got sea sick. Then he got “the timely call” from the ship’s doctor. They needed two medics to assist the doctors on-board. Joe went from a bottom dweller to having a stateroom, with piped-in-music, air conditioning, bathroom, and top-notch eating arrangements.
After landing at Cam Ranh Bay, near Nha Trang, the regiment took off in personnel carriers (PCs) to establish a base camp in Xuan Loc. While there, Joe, the combat medic, would go out on missions with the regiment which engaged in battles with the Viet Cong. On one fateful mission, an enemy grenade went off sending shrapnel into his face, head, and chest. Joe remembers the exact date – 12/14/66. He had to get a medivac out and spent the next several days in an evacuation hospital. This, however, was not the end of his tour of duty. He was put on a “chopper” and sent back to the base camp in Xuan Loc. While there, he went on many more missions, performing triage on injured soldiers, until he was injured for the second time. This time his foot was crushed by a five-ton army truck.
Joe was sent back to Nha Trang to get his foot rebuilt. He endured an infection and was sent to the Philippines where the doctors wanted to remove his foot. Still struggling to save his foot, Joe was sent to Yokohama, Japan, where he went through three more surgeries that finally saved his foot. He was given the good news/bad news; the good news was that his foot was saved; the bad news was that the wound had to be kept open for three months to heal properly.
After enduring three months of rehab, Joe was sent back to the United States, had another surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and then was honorably discharged. For his service, Joe was awarded several commendations including a Purple Heart, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device, and a Combat Medical Badge.
Upon leaving the Army, Joe worked during the day and attended college programs at night to become a teacher. The kid who did not like school, ended up being a teacher for over 35 years. He married the love of his life, Suzanne. They have been married for over 47 years and have two daughters whom he gushes about. When he mentions their names, you can tell he is a loving dad brimming with pride.
The Combat Medic who saw his share of horrific battle wounds, and endured a few of his own, not only put himself through college to become a teacher, he became specialized in teaching handicapped and “special needs” students. It takes courage and strength to overcome your own injuries, but it takes even more to dedicate your life to helping others. Today Joe and his wife are taking care of his 99-year old mother-in-law who lives with them. This is just another day for the man who has taken care of people his entire life.