Much Happier Returns for Today's Soldiers
Friday, June 5 2009
By Amanda Kim Stairrett, Killeen Daily Herald
 

FORT HOOD – It took 36 years for Bob Magruder to get a thank you.

He was a 24-year-old college graduate in his first year of teaching in Louisville, Ky., when the Army called. He was drafted and fought in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division from 1969 to 1970.

Magruder was a "grunt." An 11 Bravo. Infantry.

The story of his return is a familiar one among Vietnam War veterans. It wasn't exactly a warm homecoming. He arrived in Oakland, Calif., to a crowd of demonstrators. He heard the name "baby killer."

Bob Magruder quietly resumed his life and went back to teaching elementary and middle school. At the end of every school year, he'd get out a set of slides and show his older students the scenery and landscapes of a country where his life was forever changed.

The kids always asked questions. "Did you kill anyone?"

Magruder's squad leader was killed in the bunker next to his. He watched a soldier carrying a buddy who was shot during a battle. The two stopped and spoke in Spanish. Magruder couldn't understand what they were saying, but the wounded soldier pulled off his wedding ring and handed it to his buddy before dying in his arms.

"I guess that really made me realize I'm at war," the 63-year-old said Thursday.

The former infantryman told his students that he served his country and he was in many battles.

"I can't tell you I shot someone and watched them die," he would say.

Magruder never felt accepted and didn't understand why.

"We served. We did what we were supposed to do," he said.

Magruder and thousands of other Vietnam War veterans were caught in a political debate and couldn't do anything about it, he added. They were themes that brought veterans of that war together, he said.

It wasn't until he started volunteering at a VA hospital that he felt relief from the questions he'd asked for years. The veterans told stories. The memories they invoked weren't always pleasant, but it helped to talk about them.

"It makes me feel more at ease and at home with myself," Magruder said.

It was at the hospital that the teacher finally got a thank you, and it came from his fellow veterans. He got a handshake and a hug, too. He was finally home.

Magruder later happened upon a 1st Cavalry Division reunion in 2006 in Louisville and got more answers. He was finally among friends who understood. Not only were they friends, they were fellow 1st Cavalry soldiers. Magruder was always proud of his service with the division and once again he experienced the pride, the camaraderie, the big patch, the Stetson.

"It was a good unit," he said Thursday afternoon while sitting at the division's parade field, his black Stetson casting a shadow over his face. "It really was."

                                              

Hundreds of 1st Cavalry veterans are in town this week for a yearly reunion organized by the 1st Cavalry Division Association. Former soldiers will spend time with their buddies, tour 1st Cavalry sites at Fort Hood and remember the ones who couldn't be there to share stories.

The veterans will today get a special demonstration by the Horse Cavalry Detachment at its stables and visit living history displays at the 1st Cavalry's museum.

The division's parade field has been a special stop for many of the veterans during their time at Fort Hood. There, if the timing is right between meetings and other scheduled events, they get to greet soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team home after 12 months in Iraq.

Across post, about 400 from the 4th Infantry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade were welcomed from a yearlong deployment.

Magruder and his wife of 42 years, Melanie, came to the brigade's homecoming ceremony Thursday because he recognizes that the young soldiers who would soon walk across the parade field served their country. He wanted them to know he was proud of them.

Magruder sat in the bleachers that flanked the parade field and watched excited families wait for their soldiers to return. He took photos of a young woman, her child and the welcome-home signs they made.

"That's what it's all about right there," he said.

It wasn't like this when Bob came home, Melanie said.

"It has to make them feel better to see people who care," she said of the returning troops.