My wife’s best friend and favorite cousin when she was young was her first cousin, Kim Johnson.  Kim was a kid who grew up along the border of Mexico in Del Rio, Texas.  As happy as he seemed as a young boy, Kim’s family was extremely dysfunctional.  Growing up with mental and physical abuse, a father who was alcoholic, and two siblings who were distant from their father was not the most ideal family life.  As Jill and Kim grew closer, she could tell that he was somewhat out of control with anger and despair.  Being family, Jill and Kim always respected and trusted each other.  About the time they reached high school, Kim’s father separated from his mother and moved Kim and his brother, Terry, away to Dallas.  Kim also had a sister, and during the divorce, Kim’s father decided he did not want to separate his daughter from her mother, so he split the family in two directions. Kim’s father took the two boys and moved away, and the daughter remained with her mother to be raised in Del Rio.  Needless to say, Kim’s alcoholic father, a lawyer by trade, never gave the two boys much grounding, love, or discipline along the way. Kim grew up without much motivation for formal education, was drafted into the Army, and became a helicopter gunner in the Vietnam war.  Kim came home years later with a whole host of demons on his shoulders, an addiction to alcohol, and nightly dreams of killing the Asian man from a foreign land.

One of the most depressing things Kim encountered when returning from the war, after serving his country and having to do horrific things, was to return to a country divided on the mission of being at war with Vietnam.  More troublesome was our people’s disrespect for those who had been called to fight in the war.  There were hysterical crowds who would spit upon those returning accusing men like Kim of being “Baby Killers.”  This was traumatic for Kim as he realized that he not only returned home with a broken body but also a broken heart, mind, and spirit.  Kim tried to quietly blend into society, but it was difficult for him to control his rage, anger, or to even find a job.  Prior to the Federal Anti-Discrimination Law (1976) that protected Vietnam vets, employers could legally deny anyone work based solely on the fact that they had served in Vietnam.  Life just wasn’t the same for the veterans as it is for those today where people go out of their way to help returning soldiers get into colleges, secure jobs, and blend back into society. Even though our veterans still have much difficulty on their return to civilization, there are many programs that help them adjust.  Back in the early 1970’s, soldiers were basically left on their own to survive and deal with their mental, physical, and emotional traumas.

Kim became a very gifted carpenter, electrician, plumber, and home-builder.  But after years of struggling with jobs, not being able to trust or work for superiors, he landed a position installing satellite dishes and cable lines in homes.  One day when he was installing a satellite dish, the lady of the home started up a conversation with Kim, and he soon learned that she was from Vietnam.  They talked about all the places he had been during the war, and she told him that she had lived in one of the towns where he was stationed.  She was a small, shy, and timid lady, and Kim could see that she was a bit uncomfortable talking about her past.  When Kim finished his work, he said his goodbye to the kind lady and went to his truck.  While sitting in his front seat finishing his paper work outside of the house, Kim noticed the small frame of the lady approaching his truck, teary eyed and distraught.  When he rolled down his window, the Vietnamese lady came close, laid her hand on his arm, and said… “Mr. Johnson, I want to thank you for serving us in Vietnam. Men like you are the reason why I am alive today!  We lost many of my family during the war, but those of us who were not killed found our way to America and survived.  So, thank you, Mr. Johnson, THANK YOU!”  She then backed away and scurried back to her house.