Years Later, Vietnam Vet Shares Experience

Earl Gorman was working in his office in downtown Chicago in 1986 when he noticed the Chicago Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Parade moving through the city streets.

Hurriedly, he threw together a uniform of sorts, fastened some insignia to his top, and joined in with the 200,000 veterans and their family members marching through the city.

An estimated 300,000 spectators cheered for those in uniform that day, among the first wide scale, organized recognitions for veterans of the controversial conflict.

“We were treated pretty poorly when we got back. The whole country was against us," said Gorman, a graduate. "And I was proud to be over there, fighting communism.”

Twenty five years after the parade, he'll get a chance to recount his time in combat — and his emotional journey back to Vietnam in 2007 — during this weekend's Vietnam Veterans Parade Welcome Home 2011 festivities in Chicago.

Gorman is scheduled to speak on Saturday. He'll share photographs, stories and talk about the healing process.

“We’re at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and those guys are included (in the events) and deserve thanks,” Gorman said. “We’re fighting for your freedom.”

Gorman went on to earn a J.D. from The John Marshall Law School, and later worked as an attorney, a financial futures trader and a recycling company executive.

He married his wife, BJ, and the couple have three children and three grandchildren.

He said the parade’s positive experience inspired him to return to Vietnam in 2007 with a medical mission group, a trip Gorman said eventually led him to begin writing.

“Part of the formula for going back was the parade in 1986,” he said. “It got me thinking about doing something, like writing my book.”

Gorman's book, Fire Mission: The World of Nam – A Marine’s Story centers on his return to Vietnam, as well as his time stationed there in 1965-66. During a recent interview, he recounted a story about the pictures he'd taken with a camera he’d bought at a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa, Japan, more than 40 years ago.

He used the camera for snapshots of his two Vietnamese friends. Years later, in his return trip, he used those photos to find his friends, then a teenage girl and another young girl.

“I found them and got to meet their families, their children and grandchildren," he said. "I cried a lot.”

Earl Gorman is scheduled to speak about his Vietnam experiences at 2 p.m. Saturday at Expo 72 Gallery, 72 E. Randolph St. in Chicago.