1LT Steve C. Bailey, U.S. Army (1968-1971)

The Freedom Bird was only an hour from landing on American soil. My mind raced from scenes of death and the sounds of helicopters to visuals of life and sounds of crowds cheering at a Yankees game. I was returning from a one-year tour as an Army infantry soldier in Vietnam. My next flight was a domestic flight to my parent’s home in Connecticut. I was 24-years-old and single. I visualized my seat assignment. In my mind, I was seated between two college coeds for the 3,000-mile flight home. With excited anticipation, I boarded and looked for the imaginary coeds. Instead, in my aisle were two nuns. I concealed my disappointment. One of them asked me what I missed most while I was in Vietnam. My response wasn’t profound; besides my family and friends, I missed taking showers with lots of soap and hot water and waking in the morning to the smell of bacon and brewed coffee and eating a leisurely breakfast of pancakes lathered in butter and maple syrup. Simple things. Maybe there had been divine intervention; it was an unexpected encounter. They were two strangers who helped me transition to civilian life. The nuns were wonderful seatmates–nonjudgmental and excluding love and compassion. Special things are sometimes spontaneous and happen when you least expect them.

My family, my father, mother and two sisters were waiting for me when the flight landed. It was an emotionally overwhelming moment. It was special to see my sisters after one year in Southeast Asia, but I was blessed to have two sisters onboard…the nuns.

It was 1971. Unfortunately, the American public forced returning Vietnam veterans to fight another war; a condemnatory social war between those who had served and those who had not. Americans fighting Americans. Intolerance dominated life for many veterans. But the veterans answered the nation’s call. We showed up. And my most vivid memory of returning home, the one that evokes positive feelings and leaves me smiling, is of those two nuns on that 3,000-mile flight.

Read the Military Memories of our Runner-Ups.