We have been learning about Gordon Labat who was born in 1947 to Rose and Henry Labat, grew up on their farm east of Marshall, and attended Marshall’s Catholic schools. He farmed with his dad before being drafted in fall 1968. He completed his Army training and deployed to Vietnam in April 1969.

The Army assigned him to Company A, 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Regiment as assistant gunner on a machine gun team. Gordon went on his first combat patrol within a week. He participated in many combat patrols during his first seven months in Vietnam. Some patrols were hot, meaning contact with the enemy; many were not; and some were serious battles with many guys Gordon knew being medevac’d due to wounds.

Gordon had a three-day R&R in the beach town of Vung Tau, Vietnam, during the first half of his tour and an even better R&R week in Sydney, Australia, as he neared mid-tour.

“I went back to the main base on a chopper and then flew from Saigon to Sydney. In Sydney I met a couple of Australian guys at the hotel. They asked, ‘What did you do before you went in the service?’ I replied, ‘I grew up on the farm.’ They said, ‘Oy, do you want to go to a wool sale with us tomorrow?’ I went with them. They went into this big warehouse and looked at big lots of wool. Then they went to an auction barn and bid on the lot. It was interesting.”

Gordon’s unit reassigned him from field duty about seven months into his tour.

“I got out of the field and took a permanent job in the rear doing KP in the mess hall. That was right before Thanksgiving. I didn’t care what I got, just get me the hell out of the field. A guy who filled the gas stoves and cleaned them went home. I got his job — fill the gas stoves; clean them; and light them.”

Cleaning those stoves was an imposing task, but Gordon explained his system.

“We had an IG (Inspector General) inspection and the colonel asked me, ‘How do you keep these stoves so clean?’ I had a fifty gallon barrel in the back with water in it and cut lemons. I’d take that stove and set it right in that barrel; get that water hot; and that stuff would peel right off. I asked, ‘Have you got a cold, sir?’ He replied, ‘No, why?’ I said, ‘If you did, you take one whiff of this and you’ll clean your sinuses out.'” (Gordon laughed)

Gordon began tracking his DEROS (Date Estimated Return from Overseas Service) about 100 days out. He scratched those days off and one day learned he had a 10-day early out.

“Instead of coming home on the 2nd of April of ’70, I came home the 20th of March of ’70. I remember boarding that freedom bird. I couldn’t get up that ramp fast enough. You always heard stories about somebody getting shot while going up the ramp going home. There were a lot of guys I went through basic training with leaving at the same time. I found out some of the guys had gotten killed.”

He remembered the moment they knew their freedom was assured.

“The flight took off. When you got to 1,500 to 2,000 feet, you should have heard that plane! Guys just roared because small arms can’t take that down anymore — out of range.”

Gordon was going home.

“We went into Oakland. I was processed to come home for 30 days. Then I had to go back to Fort Benning, Georgia, for about three months. I flew to Chicago and from there to Minneapolis. Mom and Dad were waiting.”

Gordon completed his few months in the Army and returned home for good, but Vietnam also came home.

“I was back home safe again. But there were a lot of problems after that. That old war never left. (Gordon’s voice tightened with emotion) Right now I’m 100% (disabled) for PTSD. It really got to me when 9/11 hit. I was in Phoenix. That was then I went to the VA and said, ‘I gotta see somebody; not tomorrow, but today. I’m sitting in that chair and I’m not leaving.’ That was the first step. Then I went through group sessions — all Vietnam vets.”

Gordon’s Alpha Company has held reunions since 1988 and he attends regularly. They help fill a need he did not know existed. They also bring sad moments as their common Vietnam service is still harvesting brothers-in-arms.

“At the first reunion we had in ’88 in St. Louis we had located 55 guys from Alpha Company, and 38 of them were at the reunion. When you get a phone call from a guy you haven’t talked to for 20 years or longer, that was good. But we’ve lost guys from Agent Orange.”

When asked about sensory memories from Vietnam, Gordon offered a mix of the grim and the sublime.

I had a rosary and I’d say the rosary each day while I was on perimeter guard. The smell of death stands out. The lizards at night (Gordon laughed) had different sounds. It’s a beautiful country — the rice paddies, when they get that green rice going there, man!

Thank you for your Vietnam service, Gordon. Welcome home!

©William D. Palmer 2024. The Lyon County Museum will host a Vietnam Veterans speaker series on Sept. 3, 4, 9, and 10. These museum sessions begin at 6 p.m. and are free and open to the public.