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Tim Kearney
1967-1971
4th Infantry Division,
Engineer Headquarters
An Khe, Vietnam
Long Binh, Vietnam
D.O.V.E. Fund member since 2000
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I was in the first graduating class of ROTC Scholarship recipients when I graduated
from the University of Dayton in April, 1967. This scholarship required four years
of active duty and fortunately for me I was able to go to Vietnam as a Captain in
the Finance Corps as opposed to going as an Infantry Lieutenant with Ranger School
training. I was very blessed as a large percentage of infantry platoon leaders,
including many of my friends’, names are on the Vietnam Wall today.
On April 15, 1970 I said my good-byes to my loving pregnant wife and beautiful 2-year-old
daughter. Like most of my compatriots, I arrived in Vietnam after a long plane ride with
refueling stops in Alaska, Japan and Guam, not knowing where I was going inside of Vietnam.
Some of you wouldn’t believe this but even this Ranger-Captain was scared – but just for
a while. I got my orders to fly to An Khe in the central highlands not far from Pleiku
where the 4th Infantry Division headquarters was deployed. I was the Assistant Finance
Officer and it was our job to make sure that the troops of the 4th were paid on time.
I had my own room in four-man hooch, a shower, and office but no flush toilet.
(I know I am getting lots of sympathy from my fellow vets for this!) My happiest
moment there was when I received a telegram in August from the Red Cross that my
second daughter arrived three days earlier.
In October, I was reassigned to the Engineer Headquarters in Long Binh as the Budget Officer.
I had to keep track of expenditures compared to the funded allocations but it didn’t matter
anyway as the commanding general spent what ever it took to accomplish his mission of
building roads, bridges, airfields etc. This job’s conditions were an improvement and
included flush toilets, running water, a swimming pool, and weekly trips to Saigon for
accounting updates.
My tour in Vietnam was difficult only in the sense that I was separated from my family for a
year. I must admit that my duties were easy and like most government support jobs even today,
we were over-staffed and inefficient. At the end of my tour I was very happy to return home
to my family, resign my commission, buy a home in Cleveland, start a new career as a CPA,
and forget the past year.
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