Jim PurtellCasualties of WarOver 58,200 men and a few women were killed during the Vietnam War and hundreds of thousands were wounded. It’s been estimated that as ma...
Jim PurtellHILL 352 The Vietnam Veteran Memorial Fund (VVFM) posted an article on Facebook recently that caught my eye. And the reason it resonated with me w...
Jim PurtellThe Songwriter's Songwriter John PrineBack in the early 70's, while going to college, I stopped in to my favorite hang out Terry's Bar shortly before noon and the blonde haire...
Jim PurtellSTOLEN VALOR D. J. Burkett and Glenna Whitely wrote a very well respected book titled “Stolen Valor” about people who have never served in the militar...
Jim PurtellThanks for your ServiceLike many combat vets returning from Vietnam, my homecoming was rather uneventful. I flew from Seattle to Chicago and then from Chicago t...
Jim PurtellAgent Orange The month of October has been designated as Agent Orange month so I can’t let this month pass without commenting on it. I’m no scientist,...
Jim PurtellFORGOTTEN NO MOREEight years ago, several of my siblings and I purchased a Legacy Stone at the Veteran's Memorial "The Highground" in Neillsville, WI to h...
Jim PurtellLiving a Lie On March 26, 1982, I was living in Silver Spring, MD and working for the Federal Government. The day before, I noticed while reading the ...
Jim PurtellMemorial Day The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history and because we suffered so many casualties a need existed to create national ceme...
Jim PurtellVeteran Suicide - 22 a Day Before I went into the Army, I grew up in a rural neighborhood in Oshkosh, WI with lots of other kids. It was the 1960’s and many of us w...
Jim PurtellRemembering Hector Gomez When I was in Vietnam with the 1/6 198th Light Infantry Brigade, one of my platoon mates was a guy named Hector Gomez. He was from Texas ...
Jim PurtellAmbush When I was assigned to an infantry company in February 1968 it was Charlie Company 1/6th 198th infantry and we patrolled areas west of Ch...
Jim PurtellLIVING IN FEARI arrived in Vietnam in February 1968 and after a few day stay in the country club of Vietnam (Cam Rahn Bay), where I thought I was to s...
Jim PurtellJody Jody was a mythical figure allegedly derived from another mythical character an African-American named Joe D. Grinder. Joe D. Grinder, l...
Jim PurtellViewing War Through Music In my introductory post, I mentioned the reason I turned to songwriting about veteran related issues and it was primarily to deal with th...
Jim PurtellViewing War Through Music MEMOIRS OF A MEDIC My name is Jim Purtell and I’m a Vietnam veteran having served as a combat medic with the 198th Infantry in 1968-1969 ...