TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO-WAWV)- Fortunate and blessed. Those are words often used to describe surviving combat situations. That’s exactly how Tom Wright feels about his time in Vietnam.
Tom Wright and his wife Sonya really enjoy life.
After years of working, Wright and his wife Sonya likes to work in the yard, the wood shop and they like spending time with their big family. It’s a blessing, one of many that Tom has experienced in his life, including his tours in Vietnam, which he used to be reluctant to mention.
“It just had to come out, when he told me he didn’t talk a lot about it,” said Sonya Wright.
Wright grew up in Lafayette and volunteered for the Marine Corps in 1968.
He trained for combat, but he was assigned to a new unit called Manpower Management
System. 24 Marines “dubbed the dirty two dozen” used a new technology on the battlefield called computers.
Cobol, Fortran and punch cards were used on a computer that filled a floor in a two story
building. Their job was vitally important. They processed information about troop and enemy movements. And they had the task of processing soldiers killed and missing in action.
“It was real because I knew they were somebody. These were guys my age 18, 19 years old they were human beings, on both side,” said Wright.
Wright says he got the job, because he taken typing in high school. It was one of those blessings. Sometimes he would visit villages for information, and one time he was protected from the enemy by villagers, another blessing.
After a year in Vietnam, he went back to Indiana, where his family was upset that he wanted to
return to Vietnam.
“I went back to Vietnam a little concerned, a little scared actually. Because I realized there were people who cared for me and cared what happened to me,” said Wright.
He survived another six months and then spent the rest of his military commitment in Japan
and other locations.
For years, he didn’t talk openly about Vietnam, because many people accused soldiers of
being baby killers. But Wright was a proud marine who served the nation.
“We were fighting for a way of life, fighting for anti-communism. It meant a lot and it still does,” said Wright.
Leaving the military, meant seeking a civilian job. He applied to Eli Lilly, but was rejected because of arthritis in his back. So he wrote two U.S. Senators, and eventually he was hired, another blessing. Then after over 30 years, he retired after working in a Lilly lab .
During his time at Lilly, he met Sonya, another blessing.
“She’s always that background person, you don’t see her out front a lot. But she’s right there to support me, she’s another one of those blessings,” said Wright.
