AUSTIN Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dr. Dawn Buckingham Friday introduced the next installment of the series highlighting VLB’s Voices of Veterans oral history program. In this episode, they spotlight the service of U.S. Army Veteran Ken Wallingford, who fought during the Vietnam War and was held as a Prisoner of War (POW) in Cambodia for ten months.
Wallingford grew up in a military family and moved around the country as his father was stationed at different bases. He was drafted two years into his college education and knew it was “only a matter of time” before he was given orders to go on his first tour of duty to Vietnam, doing so in August 1970. At the completion of his first tour of duty as a sniper, Wallingford volunteered for a second tour of duty as a military advisor with the Military Assistance Command Vietnam.
He was captured by Northern Vietnamese forces six days shy of his discharge date in April 1972. After hearing the sounds of mortar and artillery rounds, his unit of five Americans and 200 South Vietnamese soldiers realized they were wholly outnumbered by “30,000 NVA [Northern Vietnamese Army] and Viet Cong soldiers.”
Wallingford was hit and injured by shrapnel from an explosion after the camp and artillery commanders surrendered, and he attempted to hunker down in a secure position. He wound up in an underground bunker with other men but was forced out by the enemy pouring gasoline into the short-lived haven.
“I can remember again to this day walking out, no food, sleep or water, totally spent. Later on, I had seventeen shrapnel holes from the bridge of my nose down my legs and so on… It’s just one of those feelings that is hard to describe… I was wounded, I didn’t know what was gonna happen to me, and I just felt God’s presence.”
He was kept in a five-foot by six-foot tiger cage made from bamboo by the Northern Vietnamese. Wallingford spoke at length of his experiences while being held as a POW but told VLB that he always had faith he would one day return home.
He endured unimaginable hardships as a POW but made sure to show his enduring respect for the other men and women of our military.
“I think anyone, men and women, that volunteer to serve our country are to be respected [and] appreciated for their service because it’s something that they don’t have to do, but because of the love of the country that they are doing it today and will do it in the future.”
Following his service, Wallingford served the Veterans of Texas as a Veterans Liaison for the VLB for more than 20 years.
Click here to listen to U.S. Army Veteran Ken Wallingford tell his story.
