Veteran Profile: Like Father Like Son
Vietnam veteran Frank Towers Jr. Awarded a Purple Heart
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Photo by Allison Candreva
Frank Towers Jr. and his father Frank Sr. have both received Purple Hearts for being wounded in the military.
A small piece of metal follows Frank Towers Jr. everywhere he goes. It is a small reminder of his past, embedded in his leg since 1969.
Vietnam veteran Towers enlisted in June 1967 and entered the military in September 1967. He spent his first two years training and his last in Vietnam, where he was injured. Although he had expected a Purple Heart when disharged in 1970, he would not receive it until January 2009 after about five years of paperwork.
In 1969, the Peachtree City, Ga. resident was stationed in Tay Ninh, Vietnam. Towers said he was with the 4th of the 9th Regiment, which was attached to the 25th Infantry Division. The group would stay out, spending nights in the jungle, and would only go back to Tay Ninh for rest and relaxation.His job was to take Eagle Flights to the jungle. The flights were helicopters that brought soldiers from the main post -- Tay Ninh -- to the landing zone in the jungle. He said there were usually about six helicopters, staggered, coming in at one time.
On October 29, 1969, Towers was on the first round of helicopters taken out to secure the landing zone for the next wave of troops. When they landed, there were incoming RPGs -- rocket propelled grenades. One of them hit a tree and exploded.
Shrapnel went into his leg.
He bled badly, so medics temporarily patched him up, he said. When the next wave came, they threw him on the medical-evacuation helicopter and brought him back to Tay Ninh for medical attention. The metal was deep and too close to the bone, so doctors decided to leave the shrapnel in his leg.
To this day, Towers said he has a little numbness on the exterior of his leg and on the top of his foot, but other than that, he is fine.
About 15 years ago, since he had not received his Purple Heart, Towers attempted to get it. He ran into brick walls, he said, getting the runaround, and was unsuccessful.
Ten years later, he received a postcard in the mail, inviting him to a reunion with people who had served in Vietnam during 1968, 1969 and 1970.
"I would have tossed it," Towers said, "but it was handwritten."
He took the time to read the card, which was from a group of Vietnam veterans. The group started having reunions about 11 years ago for companies A, B, C, D and E for the 4th of the 9th Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division. The 25th infantry division has its own association, and Towers said if he went, there would be veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Storm and the war in Iraq.
"Chances are, if I went to that I wouldn't run into anybody that I knew," he said.
Rita Adams, a woman working with the reunion group, sent Towers a roster of the people they found, had not found, those who are deceased and those killed in action. Towers had to decide if he wanted to even go to the reunion in Lowell, Mass., and open Pandora's box. He was not sure if he wanted to revisit the past, but he ended up attending.
Of the 150 people who attended, Towers said there were about 20 men he actually remembered from Vietnam.
"It was very emotional," he said.
The group's company commander was also at the event and Towers asked him about the Purple Heart and whether he should have received it.
"He said absolutely," Towers said. "I started the process [of getting my Purple Heart] when I came back from the reunion in October of 2005."
He filled out forms, requesting his medical records from St. Louis, which can take up to a year to receive. A few months later he received a big, thick envelop from St. Louis containing his medical information.
"I'm diggin' through there, my medical records, and to my surprise -- I was very surprised and shocked -- it was stated in there," he said. "I was wounded October 29, 1969, and it showed the description."
At that point, Towers went to his family doctor to get an x-ray of his leg to show the metal is still embedded and to get a doctor's diagnosis. Needing a detailed description of the events of the day he was injured, Towers went to his company commander who wrote him a letter about that day. He then contacted the Purple Heart association, which gave him an application for correction of military records that he filled out and mailed with the rest of the forms.
Towers said he also needed a buddy statement from someone who remembered he was wounded in Vietnam. It took him three years to find an old friend who served with him. Towers said the man was shocked to hear from him, but when he came back from the reunion, Towers called him many times but was unable to get in contact with him.
"Some people just don't want to open up that can of worms," he said. "They don't want to have anything to do with it."
Eventually he got a buddy letter, and sent all of his papers to the Purple Heart Association for approval. On July 30, 2008, the Department of the Army let him know it may take as many as 12 months until they make a decision. After a few issues, he received a letter on September 24 saying he would receive the Purple Heart, along with some other awards he had never gotten, by January.
On Jan 22, 2009, almost three and a half years after he applied, Towers received his Purple Heart. Although there will be no ceremony, he said he is going to wait until this year's reunion in St. Louis to have his company commander pin his awards on him.
Although it took a while, Towers received the award he deserved. Now both Towers and his father, Frank Towers Sr. of Gainesville, have been awarded Purple Hearts. They both share experience from the war as well as a common bond as father and son. §
Allison Candreva is a student in UF's College of Journalism. She may be contacted at: allison.cand@yahoo.com
