Tony was drafted into the United States Army on May 6, 1968 at the ripe old age of 19 years, 6 months and 2 days.  He almost joined earlier that year, but backed out to take his chances with the draft. Tony attended basic & AIT at Fort Jackson, SC then he was off to Vietnam where he was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division out of Cu Chi as a rifleman and ammo bearer for an M-60 machine gun.

One month and two days later he was wounded by a Vietcong homemade claymore mine while he and his squad were on their way to set up a night ambush.  Tony spent the next three months recovering from his wounds in hospitals in Vietnam, Japan and finally in St Albans Naval Hospital in Queens, NY.  Tony was offered a medical discharge, but turned it down, so he was assigned to the 6th Army Cav in Fort Meade, MD.  He had a medical profile, so could not perform the duties of a rifleman, so he was transferred to the First US Army HQ Data Processing Center still at Fort Meade.  Tony spent the last 15 months of his tour in that unit and that is where he became interested in computers.  Tony was discharge in May, 1970 with the rank of Specialist E-5.  Not bad for a man that was only in for two years.

Tony returned to Long Island, NY where he has lived for the last 40 years.  He got married in 1972 and he and his wife had one son in 1982.  He went to college and then to technical school where he was trained in electronics and computer repair. Tony’s career in electronics covered 31 years doing various jobs from test technician, engineering and finally as the Quality Assurance Manager in a high voltage power supply manufacturing company. Tony retired in 2006 after the death of my wife and have been a man of leisure ever since.

Please take time to read more of Tony’s stories at his blog, http://my-vietnam-stories.blogspot.com/