H.B. veteran’s book recalls Vietnam War experiences as a tribute to those who died
When he was 18, Larry Miller enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War, thinking the experience would be “exciting.” Instead, he entered a world similar to a nightmare.
“Of course, at 18, you feel pretty invincible — until you make that first contact and find out this is not what you had envisioned,” said Miller, now 69.
During his year in Vietnam, Miller saw comrades die and experienced illnesses as a result of the conditions there and the food the troops were eating.
He also had to inform service members’ families when someone was killed on the battlefield.
The Huntington Beach resident, who served in the Navy as a corpsman, or medic, for the Marine Corps from 1966 to 1970, has written a memoir about his experiences called “They Called Me Doc.”
The 258-page book, which was released in June and is available on Amazon.com, tells Miller’s war story as he honors those who fell.
“I may be a narrator, but by no means is this a hero book about me,” Miller said during an interview at his Huntington Harbour home. “It’s a book about me being around a bunch of heroes.”
One of his most gut-wrenching duties is detailed toward the end of the book, as he accompanied another service member to the homes of those who had died to inform their families.
“Especially with mothers, you really never had to go to the door,” Miller said. “No one ever answered the door and said, ‘Can I help you?’ They knew. From the time the car pulled up, you could hear them screaming.”
Miller said he decided to begin writing the book three years ago after he retired from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, where he worked for more than 30 years and ended his career as chief deputy.
Miller had an ancestor who his family believed had served in the Civil War as a bugler. It wasn’t until Miller’s daughter, a high school history teacher, did some research that they found out the man was a soldier.
“I always wondered what it was like,” Miller said. “What was the food like? Was he in battles? What were the battles really like?”
Not wanting to leave his family and future generations with similar questions about the Vietnam War, Miller decided to tell his own story.
It seems like the perfect time since it’s only recently that Vietnam War veterans have been widely accepted by the public, he said.
“It’s taken 45 years to write because 45 years ago, no one cared about the Vietnam War,” Miller said. “We couldn’t even wear our uniforms off-duty for fear of being attacked by draft-dodging deserters and the media.”
More than 2 million U.S. troops served in Vietnam and about 270,000 saw combat, Miller said. About 58,000 died, according to the National Archives. Miller said 121 in his battalion were killed.
A Marine typically would see about 260 days of combat in one year, Miller said. He was in some combat zones tending to those who had been wounded, but he wasn’t hurt himself.
“I was blessed,” he said. “Many times I had just left and a bomb went off or a truck hit an explosive device and it only set off the primer and didn’t set off the main charge. Had it actually exploded like it was supposed to, we would have all been dead.”
Miller’s book gives insight into situations not typically covered in war memoirs. He recalls the smells of service members who hadn’t had the opportunity to shower or wear clean clothes for weeks. He remembers the screams of those who had to take alcohol ice baths for their malaria. Miller also contracted malaria but said his condition wasn’t as bad.
It was difficult, he said, to be a trained medic and not be able to help everybody who was suffering, including the enemy.
“When you look into the eyes of these guys, they’re terrified also,” he said. “Some of them were Catholic, which would really make you think who was right here in the eyes of God. That’s why I wanted to be a corpsman and not a trained killer. I could feel the empathy.”
Miller said rehashing the details of service was the opposite of therapeutic, but he felt it had to be done to keep his comrades’ stories alive.
“They shouldn’t be forgotten,” he said.
Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey
