By Patrick Tepoorten

Vietnam veteran Jim Hudspeth, 60 of Taylors Falls, is coming up on the 40th anniversary of his arrival in Vietnam in December of 1965. And, although he would only spend about two months ìin country,î it would be two months that would forever alter his life on many levels.

In the mid-1960ís, Hudspeth was a 20-year-old kid from Tennessee with few options. His family did not have the resources to send him to college and he was prime draft material. Rather than wait to be put into service, Hudspeth and a friend decided to volunteer for the U.S. Marine Corps. A few short months later, Hudspeth would find himself stationed aboard the U.S.S. Valley Forge somewhere along the northern coast of South Vietnam.

The Valley Forge was a converted WWII aircraft carrier that was pressed into service as a landing platform for helicopters and also housed most of the personnel stationed with the battle group. ìThey had us packed in there like sardines,î said Hudspeth, who described how those aboard slept in hammocks stacked four high in areas that boasted barely seven-foot ceilings.

Hudspeth was part of Foxtrot company, 2nd battalion, 3rd Marine regiment, 3rd Marine division and spent the majority of his time in Vietnam away from the wooden deck of the Valley Forge.

ìWe would go in (to Vietnam) for two to three weeks at a time. Then we would come back to the ship for three or four days to clean up, get our mail, a hot meal, and then weíd go back to the field. That was the cycle while I was there.î

During his stint aboard the Valley Forge, Foxtrot company engaged in search and destroy missions, including two joint ventures with the U.S. Army. But Hudspeth would only take part in a hand-full of such missions before being severely wounded just two months into his tour of duty.

It would occur on a day that Hudspethís fire team was ìon point,î or, in charge of scouting ahead and protecting soldiers in their rear from unwanted surprises. Near dayís end, Hudspethís team was busy scouting high ground while the rest of the group was coming up.

ìApparently we had been followed by a VC mortar team. They lobbed a mortar in while we were trying to get set up, and it landed right in front of me,î Hudspeth remembered. When the smoke cleared, the mortar had injured 12 men, but Hudspeth got the worst of it, as both of his legs were severely damaged by shrapnel.

Hudspeth would spend a month aboard the U.S.S. Repose, a hospital ship attached to the Valley Forge, before being shipped home to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, where he would spend eight months recovering from his extensive injuries.

ìWhen I got there I still had both of my legs down to my ankles,î Hudspeth recalled, but infection and complications would ultimately force further amputations to both legs, to just below the knee on the left leg, and just above the knee on the right. He remembers his time in Philadelphia as difficult, at best. ìThey were doing their best,î he recalled of the staff, ìbut they were overwhelmed. They had 10 wards, with 30 to 40 guys on each ward, all amputees.î

Hudspeth also recalled hospital staffís often futile attempts to try to teach veterans like himself how to walk on prosthetic legs prior to discharge. ìAt least, they tried to teach us. Most guys were just not ready for it.î

Fitted with legs and still feeling the affects of having been in a war zone, Hudspeth returned to his home state to get back to the business of life. Although it was admittedly difficult, Hudspeth credits his family and friends with supporting him in the early days of his return.

A few months after his arrival, in search of a future and with his original plan of becoming a welder no longer an option, it was suggested to Hudspeth by Veterans Affairs that he attend college. That suggestion landed him at Denver University, where he earned a Bachelors degree in secondary education. Shopping that degree locally however, revealed an institutional reticence to hiring an amputee. ìDenver wasnít all that thrilled about hiring handicapped teachers,î Hudspeth noted.

The experience of looking unsuccessfully for a job as a teacher inspired Hudspeth to go back to school, this time to the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, where he would earn a Masters degree in special education. Upon completion, Hudspeth returned to Tennessee, where he took up his new vocation as a teacher for the blind.

Hudspeth, who was not particularly happy with his job in Tennessee, jumped at the chance to move to Fergus Falls when a former coworker called and let him know of a job opportunity there. It would be while in Fergus Falls that Hudspeth would meet and marry his wife Chris, a native of North Dakota, who he met in the course of his job. ìShe had a student in her class that needed help,î he recalled with a grin.

Federal funding for Hudspethís position in Fergus Falls would ultimately run out, and the couple would find themselves on the move again in 1979, this time to Taylors Falls, where they would make their life, and raise their two children, 27-year-old son Ira and 24-year-old daughter Erin.

Hudspeth would continue to work as a teacher for the blind for the North Branch and Forest Lake school districts until his retirement in 1985.

Not one to sit around, since his retirement Hudspeth has remained active with area school districts. He spends Mondays reading stories to students at Taylors Falls Elementary, and is called upon often by a variety of districts to speak to students about his experiences in Vietnam and the meaning of Veterans Day.

Looking back, Hudspeth views Vietnam much differently now than he did as a fresh-faced kid. ìBack then I didnít have any choices,î he recalled, and had little in the way of job prospects. He also recalled looking at the mission of Vietnam ìalong party lines.î
ìIt was the liberation of the people of South Vietnam from communism, which was the biggest threat in everybodyís lives. We were going there to free people. I was fine with that.î

Today, Hudspeth is a student of the region and the war, and does not view the war in the same terms he did 40 years ago. He talked about learning more about our involvement in Vietnam and how it came to be, and observed opposition to the war upon his return. One of the things that he finds remarkable now is that we were fighting the North Vietnamese at all. ìThe people we were over there fighting were our comrades in WWII. We helped the North Vietnamese fight off the Japanese,î he explained, and added ìThose people could have been our allies instead of our enemies.î

Hudspeth sees some of that same thinking being played out right now in Iraq. ìOur reasons for going to war proved not correct and now we are fighting a guerilla war, the same kind of war.

ìWe have chosen to be the worlds big brother, but we canít heal all wounds. We donít have the money, we donít have the troops, and we donít have the heart.î Nevertheless, Hudspeth believes that in Vietnam and in Iraq, the American military is engaged in an ìhonorable mission.î

ìOpposing dictators and people practicing genocide is very noble,î he said, and called the war on terror ìour most pressing issue.î ìIt is important that we root it out.î

And despite all he has been through and his up close experiences with the horrors of war, Hudspeth noted that if given the chance, he would do it again.

ìIf I were young enough and healthy enough, I would be the first to go,î he said, ìI still would.î

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