Bud Toll holds his medals from the Vietnam War while standing next to his wife, Glenda. Don Maines photo
Walter "Bud" Toll III thought he still had one medal due him for his service in the Vietnam.
But when officials began digging around, they discovered that the Rosenberg resident had seven he still hadn't received.
All that changed earlier this month when he was given the medals in a ceremony organized by U.S. Congressman Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land.
He joined the military as a teen
Toll, 58, joined the U.S. Army at age 17, volunteering to serve his country at a time that many his age were protesting the war and trying to avoid the draft.
Toll said he was simply following in the footsteps of his uncle, a sergeant in the infantry during World War II.
"He got his leg blown off in Sicily," said Toll of his uncle, "but he kept a good outlook on life, that life is worth living. He was a soft-spoken, gentle person, and I looked up to him. I was proud of him."
Toll was surprised that American soldiers who returned from Vietnam were treated less kindly.
"It was an unpopular war, and to me, they treated us pretty bad," said Toll. "People off the street would see me in uniform, and they would ask me if I was in Vietnam. Then they would call me a baby killer."
Reception was arranged
On June 4, Olson arranged a reception to award medals to Toll that he failed to receive 40 years ago. Many of his family and friends attended the event at the National Guard Armory in Rosenberg.
"I was proud," said his granddaughter Brittney Harbison, 16. "It seemed like he finally got the respect and rewards he deserved."
Toll knew that he was due a good conduct medal that he never received, so after a veterans case worker from Olson’s office addressed a meeting of the Disabled American Veterans of Tri-County Chapter 233 in February, Toll contacted the speaker to see about the possibility of getting his good conduct medal.
She researched the matter, only to discover that Toll also was due six additional honors. They included three bronze service stars, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm, an expert badge with auto rifle bar, and the Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal, First Class.
Seven years ago, Toll joined the local DAV chapter for its benefit as a support group. His wife, Glenda, is a member of the group’s auxiliary, as are their three grandchildren who live with them.
Suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder
Toll’s disability is post-traumatic stress disorder from his tour of duty in Vietnam, where he often shot an M60 machine gun as a door gunner on helicopters that took supplies to the infantry and picked up wounded in jungle combat zones.
Toll said the lingering disorder affects his marriage and home life.
"My wife has been to Vietnam as many times as I have," he said. "You fight it every day to maintain your sanity."
The Tolls began dating in 1970 while he was on leave in Houston between assignments in Vietnam and Germany. They married in 1975.
Glenda Toll said the medal ceremony presented the couple with a perfect opportunity to open a discussion about her husband’s military service with their children — Stacey Teague, Miranda Preuss and Dustin Toll — and the grandchildren they are rearing.
"People I knew were concerned about Bud, and they thought since I was dating him that I knew what was going on (in Vietnam)," Glenda Toll said. "But I was as confused as anyone. I was just glad to get him home."
The Tolls have shown their family a DVD that includes a speech in which then-President Lyndon B. Johnson explained how there were "great stakes in the balance" after a million people fled southwest from the northern part of Vietnam rather than succumb to living under a Communist regime that was supported by the Republic of China.
"Aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed," Johnson said.
In land south of the 17th parallel, which became known as South Vietnam, Vietnamese citizens briefly enjoyed free elections, land reforms and opportunities to industrialize. When Communists from North Vietnam infiltrated their part of the country, the South Vietnamese asked the United States to intervene, said Toll.
The U.S. promise of economic aid in the 1950s evolved into training the South Vietnamese in defending themselves with weapons, and ultimately sending military forces to fight the invasion, explained Toll.
"I’m not a hero," he added. "The heroes are the ones who paid the ultimate cost with their lives."
However, Toll conceded that he was willing to pay that price by putting himself in harm’s way.
"The price of freedom is never free. It’s costly," said Toll.
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Comments
Great!
Glad to hear he finally go them!
"got them" should work and yes well done!
"got them" should work and yes well done!
.
Thank you, Miss English Teacher wannabe.
Congratulation
Congratulations and long overdue.
Well done and Thank You!
I wish I could read more stories like this one. There are still
I wish I could read more stories like this one. There are still so many of us that have never been welcomed back from Vietnam. I am 61 years old and still waiting! God Bless you Mr. Toll and welcome home. You signed that blank check, up to and including your life. You are a true hero for what you did. May God forgive those that were against us on our own home soil. I am "Biker Vet" and I ride for all the veterans of America and am damn proud of it. I still find it hard to forgive the Americans that treated us so badly when we returned, but with stories like Mr. Toll's, I might be getting a little better.
Peace be with you Mr. Toll and THANK YOU!
Thank you...
and Welcome home, mchacker!
Congratulations! More importantly to me ~ THANK YOU, from the
Congratulations! More importantly to me ~ THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart for serving the USA. Peace & Blessings to you.
Thank you for your service ---
Thank you for your service ---
None of us were given our medals. When I decided that I wanted
None of us were given our medals. When I decided that I wanted mine many years later, I simply filled out a form that I got on-line, and mailed it in. The mailman stuck 'em in the mail box shortly after.
Now if you want the medal that was issued by the SVN government, you have to buy that from a supplier for around twenty bucks. The government no longer exists.
I have all of my medals neatly displayed at the bottom of a drawer.
It's about time!
God bless you, sir, for your service to this country, and having to put up with a "certain segment" of our society, who were very cruel to Vietnam Vets. Congratulations!
Medals
Better now than posthumously.
Thank you for your service
For those who dont remember were the tag Baby killer comes from, the man who used it is today still an elected Senator and his name is John Kerry. This is one of the most worthless human beings in our country and as such people elected him to represent them. He is from the state of Mass. Just goes to show, that people like this can hurt a million veterans and then go on to hurt the rest of the country as well.
You make us Proud!
Some of the "thangs" we get late in life .. are the best.
Colonel Patton's Hippy problem
I wish I could read more stories like this one. There are still so many of us that have never been welcomed back from Vietnam. I am 61 years old and still waiting! God Bless you Mr. Toll and welcome home. You signed that blank check, up to and including your life. You are a true hero for what you did. May God forgive those that were against us on our own home soil. I am "Biker Vet" and I ride for all the veterans of America and am damn proud of it. I still find it hard to forgive the Americans that treated us so badly when we returned, but with stories like Mr. Toll's, I might be getting a little better.
Peace be with you Mr. Toll and THANK YOU!
+++++++++
General GS Patton IV was a Colonel coming home from Vietnam after commanding The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment for a time. As he deplaned, he saw that Several Hippies had noticed him and were approaching him, grinning. He thought they were going to cause him some woe as he walked toward the terminal. A hand full of very STRAK Army Sergeants walked up and asked the Colonel to "please, Sir," step into a doorway they indicated and let them take care of the problem for him. Later Colonel Patton said, he stepped back out in time to see an Airport Security pickup drive off with several sets of knocked out hippy's feet hanging over the bumper. That's what should have happened to ANYONE pulling that Babykiller crap. By the way, WELCOME HOME Biker Vet. Glad you made it.
Semper Fi,
TXSFRED
Thank you for your service
Any man that steps into harms way in service of his country deserves much more than we as a nation have given back to them. I do not care what protesters say, if noone stood firm and promoted freedom in the world, tyranny would rule. Those who call names can go live with the enemy and learn very quickly that if they said those words to those leaders they would die a horrible death and maybe their family as well.
God bless America. God bless those who fought and died so that I and my family may take freedom for granted.
Thanks to all who served and continue to serve.
Medals
Congratulations and thank you.
medals
Semper Fi. God bless you.
Bob Windish
I have all of my medals neatly displayed at the bottom of a drawer.
==========================
Get them out and display them where people can see them. You earned that right. You may have a lot of friends and family who would like to know more about them. So many people did not understand anything about the Viet Nam war; it is well past time that they learned what it was about from a soldier's viewpoint. You may also have some friends who are veterans of that war who might benefit from having someone to talk to who understands what they are saying. I have had a number of Viet Nam veterans talk to me, not because I was there (I wasn't), but because I would listen and not blow them off. There is still a lot of need for so many who have nobody to talk to.
At the very least document your awards for your children and grandchildren. These awards and your service are part of the legacy that you will leave them.
too late
Historically, there was never a political entity called The Republic of South Viet Nam. Complete fabrication by the U S's cold war policy. On its best days it was an American PR nightmare and on its worst, a disastrous falsehood that cost the Vietnamese 3 million lives. We were sent to the war like our parents flush the toilet. Blind loyalty that the plumbing will work, but, oh, it was clogged badly and we veterans paid twice for our sense of duty. But what could we expect, the record shows repeated neglect of combat vets and esp wounded and disabled vets over the last five wars.
the worst treatment I received upon return in 1970 was that neglect and being ignored. I have worked with Viet vets and written about our war there since 1980 and have rarely found a substantiated case of a vet being abused. We ought to face up to the reality: we lost, they won, good.
Thank you and God Bless!
Thanks Mr. Toll, very few know what people mean when they say you and your wife have both been to Vietnam the same amount of times. Thank you for your service!
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