Monday Matters: Vietnam War seen through eyes of Fort Smith veteran
Fulmer, who served as the commander of a firing battery in the Americal Division, fought in the Vietnam War from 1967-68 -- two years that had some of the war's most intense fighting. During his time in
Though he now lives in
"I had some relatives who came through World War II and
Fulmer completed the ROTC program at
Fulmer's role as a firing battery commander, he said, involved calculating artillery fire in firefights. One such firefight occurred when his outpost was attacked during the Tet Offensive, in which North Vietnamese and
"We were shooting artillery fire like you would not believe," Fulmer said of the Tet Offensive.
"You make the assumption your artillery is going to be accurate, and usually, it is. But when people are under fire, they need fire now, and they need it to be accurate," said
The moments leading up to when Fulmer's outpost was attacked during the Tet Offensive make for a story he "loves to tell." He said he was playing poker with his comrades around
"I had the great hand, the winning hand, and there was about
The next few days of combating enemy forces "went well" for Fulmer and his men, he said. He said fighting the enemy was much easier during the Tet Offensive, as enemy troops were out in the open as opposed to the guerilla warfare they often encountered.
Though the Tet Offensive is the acknowledged turning point in the Vietnam War, Fulmer is confident the attacks yielded a
"We killed them," Fulmer said. "That part of it was never reported in that magnitude in
Like many others, Fulmer said he did not know about the other significant event in the Vietnam War -- the My Lai massacre -- when it took place. This event, which took place in
Fulmer did, however, live in a bunker with Capt.
The fact that Fulmer had shared a bunker with Medina did not immediately register with him, he said.
"(My wife) said, 'It was kind of funny, because in the middle of the night, you sat up straight in bed and said, 'Ernie Medina. I knew him,"" he said.
Though he said the My Lai villagers were particularly unfriendly to the
"It was not in any way how we actually fought that type of war. What we wanted to do was find the bad guys -- the guys that were carrying weapons, the guys that would shoot at us," he said. "When I found out what all had happened down there, I thought that was really sad."
Fulmer would remain in the
Nowadays, Fulmer still shares his stories from
"I like to bring in people to talk to the students," he said. "Winston was an obvious choice."
Fulmer also serves as a delegate on the
"We'll continue to try to help the veterans in any way," Dooly said.
Dooly said he and Fulmer frequently "exchange war stories" from their careers.
Though the justifiability of the
"Every American has a responsibility to serve in one way or another," Fulmer said.
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