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Richard O’Connor on the Long Journey Home

By State of the Re:Union

Richard O’Connor was featured in our recent Veterans Day Special and was kind enough to share this:

On November 10, 2010, I was fortunate to be the subject of a broadcast on Veterans’ Day, a special by State of the Re:Union. Sara Wood interviewed me numerous times and worked with other SOTRU producers to produce this wonderful piece.

Jim Jerrell (USMC,Ret.) spoke on my behalf during the broadcast. I fought with him in Vietnam. He is responsible for getting me on the base (Travis AFB, Fairfield, CA) to sing and play my guitar for the wounded. He and his wife Estella have been visiting the wounded for the past seven years.

Nate Johnson was another contributor to the broadcast. He works for the Concord Vet Center as a counselor. He is an avid cyclist and has organized a yearly 500-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Camp Pendleton, CA. It is called “The California Tour-500 Miles in Support of Our Wounded Veterans.” I have met up with them for 2 years to sing at campsite stop at New Brighton State Beach in Santa Cruz.

It wasn’t until 2008, with the help of a VA counselor, Jeff Jewell, that I was able to find the Marines I fought with in Vietnam. Now I can go to the website (http://12thmarinesassoc.homestead.com/index.html) to see and chat with fellow Marines. There on the site you can see pictures of my fellow Marines and myself. Mike Hoskins who also spoke on the broadcast put this site together. We fought together on the same howitzer on Gio Linh and both were wounded twice after 64 days of fighting (1967). Mike has written a book about his experiences and would like to publish it.  I also have written a book, but I am more reluctant to face the publishing process.

I was wounded 3 times during my year in Vietnam. I came home on a stretcher to an empty airport and a changed life. The cargo plane landed in May, 1986, at the same Travis Air Force Base where I sing and play today.

It’s déjà vu!

For CD requests: email either address: terrocon@aol.com or kellmusicgurl@aol.com.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 at 6:28 am and is filed under Episode Centered. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Trish

    Loved the segment! Thanks to Sara Wood for such a brilliant production of Richards’ story. I’m so glad she shared his story. He gave so much to so many without hesitation and still does to this day.
    Thank you SOTRU/NPR for sharing this wonderful story.
    I’m so proud of him and I’m very lucky to have him for a brother-in-law. I want to thank my sister Terri for bringing him into our family ; )

  • Kelley

    I love love love this segment of my dad! he is a hero to many and I am so blessed to have such a great father. So thankful for my aunt who put together CD’s for my dad to send to his friends, Jim for inviting him to play and sing for the wounded at Travis, and Sara for spending so many hours and 2 years interviewing my dad! This means so much to my dad and our family more than you wil ever know Sara! I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Thank you to State of the Union for broadcasting this segment! This was put together so beautifully!

    Happy Holidays.
    Kelley