Local Vietnam veteran reflects on his time overseas, celebrates fellow service members

DAGSBORO, Del. – The year is 1968. A cultural revolution is taking over in America – from music, to fashion, to television. Meanwhile overseas, the Vietnam War is raging on. Sgt. Frank Bolen is a 17 year old high school student, and receives word that one of his friends has been killed in the Vietnam War. “It was 1968, June. I was told that a friend of mine from New Jersey got killed. So I took my books up to the principal and gave him my books and I left,” said Sgt. Bolen.

Sgt. Bolen ended up serving in Vietnam for eleven months and 17 days. On Veteran’s Day in 2020, Sgt. Bolen sifts through the memories of his time overseas. His home is filled with personal artifacts like medals, his uniform, and pictures of him in the field. Sgt. Bolen says those memories are still fresh in his mind. “I was an 18 year old kid and I’m 70 something years old now. It still haunts me. I suffer from PTSD from a lot of the battles and stuff,” said Sgt. Bolen.

Sgt. Bolen says returning home from Vietnam wasn’t much easier than the sleepless nights in the jungle and carrying out missions. He recalls the day he got back on American soil, wanting to call his family and tell them he was home. Sgt. Bolen says he approached a group of women to ask what time it was. “They looked at me and said where’d you just come from because I had fatigues on. I didn’t have a regular uniform. I said I just came back from Vietnam and they got up and walked away. They wouldn’t even tell me the time,” said Sgt. Bolen.

But now, Sgt. Bolen says it’s a different story. He tells 47ABC that he feels the attitude toward Vietnam veterans has shifted away from the political strife of the time toward honor and respect. Sgt. Bolen says that nowadays, Vietnam veterans like himself are making strides to show the support they never had to men and women returning home from serving today. “When the Afghan guys came home, us Vietnam vets made sure that they weren’t going to be treated like us,” said Sgt. Bolen.

While some scars – emotional or physical – may never heal for many veterans, Sgt. Bolen says brother and sisterhood among his fellow veterans is one of the best remedies. Sgt. Bolen adds that it’s that emotional connection between veterans that can make them stronger. “If you never fought in a war, it’s tough for a regular person to understand what a veteran goes through,” said Sgt. Bolen.