Bill Goes to Vietnam

“Leaving on a Jet Plane”

Listen to Chapter 16, “Bill Goes to Vietnam”

When the next school year began—the year that would end with Julie’s college graduation—Sandra and Bob had accepted their first teaching assignment and had moved to Simi Valley. This was the first year that Julie had lived alone in the dorm. At first she didn’t like it, but she quickly got used to the quiet solitude that allowed her the time and space she needed to focus on her senior year studies.

After a summer concert tour, during which he performed at Carnegie Hall, Howard Davidson was back at La Paloma for his senior year. It took him three weeks, though, to notice Julie’s engagement ring.

“It’s your boyfriend, Bill Johnson, I presume,” he began.

“Why, yes, of course,” she replied. “Who else would it be?”

“Well, it could have been me,” he said, shocking her.

Julie laughed curiously. “Oh, really, now?”

“I was really hoping you could go on tour with me next summer,” Howard continued. “I really could have used a good page turner this past summer. Anyway, you could do piano solos during my intermissions. Julie,” he looked deeply into her eyes now, taking her fingers into his hands, “you are that good!”

She blushed but did not pull her hands away from him. “I don’t know, Howard. I’ve got a wedding to plan.”

“But that’s an entire year away, isn’t it? Not until next fall.”

“Next November, when Bill is due for discharge from the Army.”

“Think about it,” he urged. “Seriously!”

Julie and Howard continued their friendship, including study and practice sessions, concert attendance, and their own performance engagements. Julie said nothing more about her engagement to Bill, but now and then she caught Howard looking at her ring.

Then came the dreaded phone call from Bill.

“I don’t think we should be engaged for a while,” he said blatantly.

Julie was stunned and speechless! Only the sudden stab of pain that she felt exceeded her shock. What was going wrong? Had Bill met someone else? Maybe it was that cute young female recruit that followed him around every time they went on town leave in Tacoma, Washington. Julie started to cry.

“Oh, baby, baby! Please don’t cry!” Bill begged, hearing her sobs. “I love you so much!”

“Then what’s wrong? What is it, darling?” she pleaded.

Bill was silent for a very long time before he spoke. “My unit is being shipped out to Vietnam next Tuesday.”

At once Julie was relieved and frightened—relieved that he still loved her, but very frightened that he was going to Vietnam—what they had both feared for many months.

“I will not make you wait for me when my life will be in danger,” he told her. “I may not come home alive, baby! I am an Infantry Medic, you know. I will be where the fighting is very intense, honey. I have to go through this, but you do not. I will not allow you to be in that situation because I love you too much for that. So I must set you free, my love.”

“Oh, Bill!” she whispered through her tears. “I would die if I ever lost you!”

He sighed. “I know, Kitten. This is a terrible war. If I had a choice—”

“Do you want the ring back?” she ventured.

“No, darling, it’s yours,” he answered quickly.

“Then do you want me not to wear it?” she asked.

“That’s up to you, baby,” he said sadly. “But I know I cannot hold you to our promises of marriage until I return safely to the United States.”

Julie could not hide her sadness from Howard when they were together. Howard tried to encourage her to have positive thoughts, but mostly about herself, her senior piano recital planned for next spring, and their graduation and career plans. Howard had become very anti-war, anti-military, and anti-Vietnam. He even had connections to a secret underground group that helped young men get to Canada to avoid being drafted. Knowing this did not help Julie’s frame of mind, but she said nothing to Howard about her distress over this.

There were a few times Julie was nearly tempted to take off the ring. But she didn’t want to have to answer questions, especially from Howard. She often watched other girls with their boyfriends, and it only made her that much more “homesick” for Bill. Then she started really observing guys and usually ended up wondering how the girls could even stand boys! “Yuck!” was her frequent conclusion, followed by, “I’m so glad Bill isn’t like that!”

Of course, Howard wasn’t “like that,” either. Howard, who by now truly was Julie’s best friend and soulmate, felt so comfortable to be with, as they shared their personal and professional goals and dreams with each other.

Christmas came and went, a rather bleak interlude in Julie’s life without Bill. Hardly a day went by that Julie didn’t shed a tear or two—and sometimes many tears—especially when Bill’s letters were delayed. And when the letters did arrive, Bill often filled them with hair-raising accounts of his terrifying experiences on the front lines as an Infantry Medic. Surely he would have nightmares of those horrendous times for years to come! Would these months of horror change her sweet loving Bill into something cold and hard? She prayed they would not, but she knew that in reality war changes people!

When Julie returned to the dorm after Christmas vacation, it surprised her to see a thin young woman standing in front of her door, alternately looking at some papers in her hand and peering at Julie’s door, then up and down the empty hallway. Upon seeing Julie, she broke into a dimpled grin. “Are you Julie Scott?” she asked, not at all shy.

“Yes,” answered Julie. “Who are you?”

The other girl tilted her head rather sheepishly. “I’m really sorry for all this,” she began. “Apparently a lot of second-semester freshmen have enrolled, and the freshman dorm is way overcrowded. They’ve even put a bunch of girls three to a room! Anyway, Dean Cushman moved several of us over here, and I guess the girls without roommates here were the first ones they picked.”

“Huh?” Julie asked, confused. “Picked for what?”

“Oh!” The newcomer extended her hand boldly toward Julie. “Hi, I’m your new roommate. My name is Janelle Radclyffe.”

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