Raymond “Tony” Craven was told by the U.S. Army to not wear his uniform when he returned to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1968.
“There was good reason for that at the time,” he said. “People weren’t very nice although no one had a right to call me names or spit on me or anything. That just shouldn’t have happened. It still bothers me all these years later.”
Many U.S. soldiers returning from that controversial war were not welcomed with escorts, cheers and gratitude, but instead with curse words, anger or apathy. Craven, who was raised in Schererville, never received any kind of a hero’s homecoming that is more common for today’s soldiers serving overseas.
“I just went home straight from the airport with my family,” Craven said. "No cheering. No welcome home signs. No nothing."
Drafted at 19, he served nearly one year in Vietnam as a combat engineer, trained to build bridges, clear air strips and sweep for land mines and booby-traps. He risked his life for the blood-stained tenets of freedom and for a government that wasn’t honest about that war, Craven said.
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“They never intended to win that war. And to think how many men died there, and all the ones who came home to die in some way, it’s just horrible,” said Craven, who has a war-related disability. “Even vets who served in World War II told us that they fought in a real war, but not Vietnam vets," Craven said. “I never understood it.”
He paused for a few seconds to ponder his words while sitting at his dining room table.
“I’m not ashamed of anything that me and those other soldiers did in Vietnam. I’m NOT,” he said with conviction. “But I still don’t talk about it much.”
Craven turned 21 on the day he returned to the U.S. in 1968.
“That was a good day in my life,” Craven recalled.
Born in Kentucky, Craven moved to Northwest Indiana as a young boy with his family. At 19, he left his job at the Ford plant in Chicago Heights to serve in the military. It was waiting for him when he returned, along with his family.
Craven resumed his life and met his wife, Jane. Married now for 50 years, they live in rural Valparaiso with a towering American flag in the driveway waving to passerby.
“Do you see this Vietnam hat I’m wearing. I didn’t wear it for a long time,” he said, pulling off the cap to show a tiny cross on it. “I was in Vietnam so I wear this hat. Other guys were there too so they should be on the hat as well. You have to earn the right to wear it.”
Craven also has earned the right to fly on the esteemed Honor Flight to Washington D.C. this Tuesday from Purdue University Airport in West Lafayette.
“It didn’t cost me nothing but a couple years of my life,” Craven said with a laugh.
He will join 84 other veterans, including two World War II vets, to view war memorials in D.C. and be treated like royalty for the entire day. His son, Matt Craven, will chaperone him.
“Many of these heroes never received a homecoming when they returned home decades ago,” said Kevin Bol, a board member for Honor Flight of Greater Lafayette.
The Honor Flight Network was founded in 2005 using six small planes to transport 27 WWII veterans to D.C. Today there are 124 Honor Flight hubs around the country, including four in Indiana, with more than 250,000 veterans making the trip.
Many years ago, I attended the emotional Honor Flight homecoming for a Region vet at a Chicago airport. (Read in on my Facebook page.)
Another Region veteran will be on Tuesday’s Honor Flight from Lafayette to D.C.
Keith Friedlund, a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Navy, returned to his Merrillville home in 1969. He was 22. His parents were the only ones who greeted him at O’Hare International Airport when his plane landed at 4 a.m.
“They were all I needed to see,” Friedlund recalled.
At 77, Friedlund still gets uncomfortable when strangers commend him publicly for serving in the military.
“I didn’t do what I did to be told ‘thank you for serving,’” Friedlund said. “I did it because it was the law and I wanted to serve my country.”
On Tuesday he’s looking forward to meeting other Vietnam vets on the Honor Flight.
“This whole trip will add another chapter of history to our family,” said Friedlund, who has military veterans on both sides of his family. “It’s going to be an amazing experience.”
His chaperone will be his 47-year-old daughter, Morgan, who recently completed breast cancer treatments.
“We don’t get to spend a lot of time together, so this will be special to share it with her,” Friedlund said.
A few years ago, his wife, Charlotte, encouraged him to apply to be chosen for an Honor Flight.
“His well-deserved day has finally come,” she said.
Craven has never been to D.C. to view any of the memorial walls.
“I’ll be honored to do it for all those guys who didn’t make it back home alive,” he said.
PHOTOS: Vet Tony Craven to take Honor Flight
Region vets taking Honor Flight to D.C.: ‘All it cost me was a couple years of my life’
“They never intended to win that war. And to think how many men died there, and all the ones who came home to die in some way, it’s just horri…
Region vets taking Honor Flight to D.C.: ‘All it cost me was a couple years of my life’
Raymond "Tony" Craven will be taking an Honor Flight from Lafayette to DC on April 16.
Region vets taking Honor Flight to D.C.: ‘All it cost me was a couple years of my life’
“I’m not ashamed of anything that me and those other soldiers did in Vietnam. I’m NOT,” Raymond Craven said with conviction. “But I still don’…
Vet Tony Craven to take Honor Flight
Raymond "Tony" Craven will be taking an Honor Flight from Lafayette to DC on April 16.
Vet Tony Craven to take Honor Flight
Raymond "Tony" Craven will be taking an Honor Flight from Lafayette to DC on April 16.
Region vets taking Honor Flight to D.C.: ‘All it cost me was a couple years of my life’
Raymond "Tony" Craven will be taking an Honor Flight from Lafayette to DC on April 16. Craven has never been to D.C. to view any of the memori…
Vet Tony Craven to take Honor Flight
Raymond "Tony" Craven will be taking an Honor Flight from Lafayette to DC on April 16.
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