LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A Vietnam Conflict veteran residing in Las Vegas shared his story of service and survival many years after the battle ended.
Lonzo Walker, who joined the U.S. Military in October 1968, served as a Specialist E4 in the course of the Vietnam Conflict. He was awarded a Purple Coronary heart for his bravery in fight, a testomony to the extreme and harmful conditions he confronted.
“I still have nightmares about it,” Walker recalled, as he described the harrowing experiences he endured in the course of the battle. “I have nightmares being stuck in the middle of nowhere and seeing my friends around me getting shot.”
Walker mentioned he started learning martial arts to assist loosen up his thoughts and has since achieved a black belt, accumulating quite a few trophies over 50 years of dedication. Regardless of these accomplishments, he admits that the accolades overshadow the inner battles he continues to face.
Reflecting on his choice to affix the Military, Walker defined, “I wasn’t happy with my life then,” and sought a method out of Las Vegas. His service in Vietnam was marked by every day fears for his life, a actuality that left deep scars.
Walker recounted a very traumatic encounter the place his unit was ambushed, ensuing within the deaths of 9 out of 12 troopers.
“We were ambushed and I was walking point,” he mentioned. “Gunfire went off and I was hit.”
Upon returning residence almost two years later, Walker confronted the problem of reintegration right into a society that he felt had forgotten Vietnam veterans.
“Vietnam veterans were the forgotten soldiers,” he acknowledged, and expressed his frustration with how they had been handled.
It took Walker 20 years to obtain therapy for PTSD, a situation that profoundly affected his life post-war.
“I was a different person,” he added, and described his battle with anger and mood management.
Walker’s journey from a younger man in search of escape to a embellished veteran highlights the enduring affect of the Vietnam Conflict on those that served.
All details on this report had been gathered by journalists employed by KLAS. Synthetic intelligence instruments had been used to reformat from a broadcast script right into a information article for our web site. This report was edited and fact-checked by KLAS employees earlier than being printed.
