Waiting: One Wife's Year of the Vietnam War

Afterword

Afterword and whatever happened to. . . . Reveilee, who did learn to say and spell her name much more quickly than I had feared and who then came to love it because no one else shared it, graduated from Texas Tech University and then several years later earned her MBA at The American School of International Management (Thunderbird ). Now living in Phoenix, she is the mother of our three fantastic grandchildren. Allyanna, David, and Michael are the lights of our lives. Meridith, an extraordinarily independent soul who began her career in the music industry even before she graduated from college, was struck with multiple sclerosis at the age of 24. She has made her home in Hollywood , California. Susan and Tom made Galveston, Texas their home after Tom’s release from being held captive for a year by FARC in Colombia, an ordeal that he chronicled in Long March to Freedom. On Galveston Island, Susan and her mother completely renovated one of the city’s major historic sites. The Hargroves are currently in transition to retirement, and Tom’s book on his Vietnam experiences, A Dragon Lives Forever, has just been re-released by Texas A&M University Press. Marjorie Sheldon moved to Galveston after her husband died, and she lived on one of the floors of the renovated building with Susan and Tom until her own death a few years ago. She always remained my “social” mother, and I remember her fondly. Miles Sheldon became an extraordinarily successful businessman and headed American companies based in Kuwait. He died tragically young of complications from cancer. Connie established herself in the banking industry and shattered many glass ceilings in her rise to the top before she experimented with an early [316] afterword retirement. After a few months of leisure, she returned to frays of banking and continues to chart new territory for successful women. Major General (Ret) Bernard Loeffke, that newcomer battalion commander whom I was convinced was going to get Lee killed with his experimental maneuvers, ended up saving Lee’s life. Loeffke remained in contact with Lee periodically through the years as he obtained his two general’s stars and then retired. He became a Physician’s Assistant so that he could focus the remainder of his life on healing. He is the one who convinced Lee to adopt the raw vegan lifestyle. Jim and Judy Lanning have three grown children—including James David—and four grandchildren. Jim retired from the Army, after twentytwo years of service, to become a minister. Judy remains a supporter in his endeavors and a loyal sister-in-law. The Lannings lived in their new house until Mr. Lanning (James Maurice Lanning) died less than a year after Lee retired. Mrs. Lanning (Alice Coskey Lanning) lived three more years, and—amazingly—she was one of my biggest fans in the last years of her life. I guess I finally proved that I was worthy enough to be her son’s wife. My grandmother (Anna Tomlinson Knox) inspired me by the way she lived her life until she died at home and still living independently at the age of ninety-eight. My mother (Glenna Gene Knox Moore) lived to be seventy-nine and died peacefully in her home in Roby. My father (James Garland Moore) remained active in farming and engaged in projects for the rest of his life, including installing drip irrigation systems on two of his farms when he was eighty-two. He died at age eighty-five this year. We placed a flag on his coffin to honor the role he played in World War II as a part of the Greatest Generation. The Waiting Wives of the Vietnam war. . . . Well, I can’t say for certain or in specifics. During the remaining twenty years around military wives I never participated in or overheard a conversation centered on the topic of being a waiting wife during this era. There were aside references to it, such as “when John was in Vietnam” and “while I was waiting for Jim to come home.” But never did a group of us discuss how we felt or how we coped with the ordeal of having a man at war. Thus, I do not know if my story is summarily typical or singularly unique. It is simply one wife’s year of the Vietnam War. ...