Vietnam Veteran Came Home in 1970, Survived Then Surcumbed

Murphy came home from Vietnam in 1970. He survived combat plus decades here. We can only wonder how long he could have survived had he been granted the promises made "to care for him who shall have borne the battle" as President Lincoln said. To read the beginning of the fine article on Savannah Now, it would not do proper justice to this life gone too soon.

"Robert Lloyd Murphy Jr. was born in Newport News, Va., but spent his childhood in Virginia and in Florida. His father was a Baptist minister, Townsend said, and “they moved around a lot.”

Murphy’s parents are both dead now. So is his sister, his only sibling.

For his senior year in high school, Murphy attended Oak Hill Academy, a private, Baptist-affiliated boarding school in Virginia. His fellow seniors in the Class of 1966 voted him “Best Personality.”

“Bob, you have so much potential,” a teacher named Edith Hough wrote on a page of Murphy’s “Hilltopper” yearbook. “Live up to your potential.”

In Murphy’s case, that meant serving his country.

The Vietnam War had been raging for two years when Murphy got his high school diploma. By the end of 1966, the number of American troops in Vietnam reached 385,000 men.

On May 7, 1967, Murphy started on a path to join them by enlisting in the U.S. Army. His superiors trained him to fly helicopters. He arrived in Vietnam on Oct. 20, 1968, on the heels of the huge battle at Khe Sanh. Murphy must have been good at his job, as he became a commander for his rotary wing unit.

“He made captain when he was 22,” Murphy’s nephew said. “He got shot down once, and he said he was lucky to get out with only a few injuries. But he was hard core. He wanted to do his duty.”

He served 19 months in Vietnam and returned to the states in May 1970. He was honorably discharged in 1971 from Fort Stewart."

Tom Barton: VA scandal hits home: Vet hooked on morphine, takes own life
Savannah Now.com
Tom Barton
Posted: November 22, 2014

My morphine addiction is a necessary evil that prevents my death by suicide. I know it is inevitable and the increase of the dosage is without a doubt a foregone conclusion. I don’t look forward to it.
— Bob Murphy on Veterans Day, 2013
read the rest here