Our veterans spotlight this month is on Joseph J. Saitta. Born in Washington DC in May 1947, Joseph served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War.
Joseph was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to attend basic training. While there, the US. Army assigned Joseph’s Military Occupation Specialty (MOS); he would be a 91B, otherwise known as an Army Combat Medic. Joseph attended Advance Infantry training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
In 1967, Joseph and other soldiers were loaded onto a Tiger Airline flight from Oakland, California to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Once in country, he was assigned to the 502nd Division, 101st Airborne, B Company. Soon his guys were calling him “Doc”, but away from camp they would call him “Band-Aid” so the enemy would not hear that he was a medic. Joseph describes the heat and humidity as something he never experienced before.
Joseph’s first experience as a combat medic was to take care of a Vietnamese child that had been wounded by an illuminating round. (An illuminating round is a mortar designed to light an area at night for various purposes. Once the round reaches its predetermined height, it illuminates as it falls to the ground controlled by a parachute.) As a combat medic, Joseph carried a 100 pound back pack with medical supplies in addition to his rifle and other combat equipment everywhere he would go.
Joseph would be awarded the Silver Star Medal for his actions under fire near Fire Base Currahee, in the A Shau Valley in Vietnam. The area had taken a mortar attack and was in a brutal fire fight. For 7 hours, Joseph continued to aid his wounded soldiers and get them to waiting helicopters to be evacuated. It wasn’t until later that he realized he had taken shrapnel from the mortar. His boots were full of blood and he had wounds in his chest and legs. Joseph was loaded onto a helicopter and flown to Da Nang, Vietnam. While in the hospital a Chaplain presented Joseph with a Purple Heart Medal for his wounds. Once stable, Joseph was loaded with other wounded soldiers onto an air transport plane and taken to Japan and then back to the states. When Joseph woke up, he was in Fort Meade, Maryland.
When Joseph returned home, he didn’t talk about the war. He was not unlike most Vietnam Veterans in that respect. People didn’t want to associate with someone who fought over there.
Joseph was present in 1982 when the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated to honor service members who had fought in the Vietnam War and service members who died there. It was finally the “Welcome Home” he never received. Joseph says he and other Vietnam Veterans will never allow service members to be forgotten again.
We thank Joseph for his service and welcome him home!
