ning veteran

By Tami Lange Mosser
November 5, 2013
358

Gil Ning admits it wasnt easy being a Chinese-American kid growing up in the largely white city of Dayton. He got used to name calling. I was discriminated against, he said. Bullied. Whatever you want to call it. But when his country called, Ning volunteered for service in Vietnam. I thought it was the right thing to do, he said, although he never dreamed hed end up in combat with the infantry. That one-year tour was in 1968-69, during the Tet Offensive. Ning called the time the hot years. He became a platoon leader in the 1st Air Cavalry and was injured twice, both times by friendly fire – a hand grenade and a 750-pound bomb, he recalled. The grenade was thrown by a fellow platoon member, but hit a tree and bounced back. The bomb was dropped during an airstrike when the plane was so close I could see the pilots face, he said. Shrapnel wounds. Both times. I never thought Id come home, Ning said. The fact that he survived? I think God played a little into that, he said. God and good common sense and jungle know-how and maybe a stroke of good luck. The country he returned was like a world gone mad. I served my country, Ning recalled thinking. Now I need to go forward. Admitted upset with the government for how the war was being portrayed at home, Ning funneled all of his energy into getting back into the workforce. But, at only 90 pounds, he quickly found he was too small to even be considered for factory work. I was lean, he said. I was pure muscle. Bone. I was a skeleton. I ate C rations all day. You dont gain weight eating out of a can. So, he tried going the student route. He enrolled at The Ohio State University, but found fellow students distrusted him because hed fought in the war they were all protesting. Rioting broke out and when it was announced four students had been killed during a riot at Kent State, the National Guard plans flew over the OSU campus in Columbus and dropped tear gas. The world is crazy, Ning said. Why am I exposed to (tear gas) again? He left school and thought about going back to his pre-war job, but thought the company had gone out of business. He seriously considered a return to Southeast Asia. Later, he learned the business had just moved. He was re-employed. Even though he had no transition period from the war to civilian life, Ning kept quiet about Vietnam and led a fairly normal life until the recession hit in the late 1970s. By 1980, he was laid off and again looking for work. Someone suggested he could make his former life work in his favor. As an Asian American Vietnam vet with two purple hearts, he could catch the eye of an employer pledged to equal opportunity employment. Still, he said, I didnt want to play the card. I didnt know these were hiring points. Those were the very hiring points that land Ning in Wooster, working with Rexroth in Wooster, which took advantage of the state assistance offered to hire him. It seemed the factors that had once made his life tough had come together for good. For years, he never talked about Vietnam. Who was I going to talk to? he asked. To some of his fellow veterans, he looked like the enemy they were trying desperately to forget. It seemed, perhaps, he was better off forgetting it, too. A few years ago, he began to realize there are lots of veterans benefits he never knew about. Now, Ning said, he wants to work to make sure other veterans know what theyre entitled to. He lauded the work of the Wayne County Veterans Service Commission, but added that the veterans need to do some seeking on his or her own. After suffering some health problems, Ning sought help through the Veterans Administration and is now being compensated for the time he was exposed to Agent Orange, a defoliant used to clear jungles in Vietnam. He gets all of his medical services through the VA and will be monitored for exposure issues for the rest of his life. A friend told him he was eligible for a reduced rate for license plates, so Ning took his discharge papers along with the Division of Motor Vehicles office in Wooster. When the clerk saw he was a Purple Heart recipient, she happily informed him his plates were free. So, if you see a little black Honda around Wooster with p [purple heart plates on it, youll know who it is. Im all veteran, Ning said. And I really feel the veterans today need to see whats available to them now, rather than waiting until they have to have a service. And, as a veteran, Ning said he feels a bond with any person who has served, especially those who have seen combat. This Veterans Day, he said, Ill chill and watch veterans programs. When I listen to (the anthems of the Armed Services) I look forward to that. I actually cry.

ning veteran

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