Ray Kish

My Story

In the mid 1950's, the country of Vietnam expelled French rule and became an independent country. For the next 25+ years, there would be internal strife as the northern pro-communist attempted to take over the southern pro-republic areas of the country. In the early 1960's, the United States began sending military advisors into Vietnam, and by 1965, troop support was being given to South Vietnam to assist this country in its bid to remain under democratic rule. More than 8 million Americans, serving in the armed forces would serve in Vietnam. More than 300,000 would be wounded in action, nearly 2,000 would be missing in action and 58,209 would be killed in their lines of service. It wouldn't be until the mid-1960s before articles about Vietnam began appearing in United States newspapers.

It was June of 1962 when my dream finally came true. I was accepted into the United States Marine Corps - finally, my opportunity to see the world at the government's expense. I got to see North Carolina, if you can call boot camp a chance to see the world. Then I was stationed in Hawaii, which was a paradise on earth. As I walked the sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean, I had no clue that on the other side of that ocean was the conflict that would drag me from the dream into a never-ending nightmare.

In March of 1965, I received orders to go to a place called Vietnam - a place I had never even heard of. A place I had to look up on a map because I didn't even know where it was. The war was kicking into high gear and the United States was sending in troop support. When I decided to go into the Marine Corps, I had wanted to serve my country, but I never dreamed that I would find myself going to war.

I was stationed in between the villages of Tam Ky and Chu Lai on hill number 54 in Northern Vietnam with the unit of men whom I had served with for two years. Though Hill 54 was our base camp, we traveled all over Vietnam from Ke Sanh in the far north to the Mekong River Delta in the far South. After serving with one another, we were friends and we were brothers. We all had plans with each other once we got back to the States and I was responsible for them.

My unit had one simple purpose - to seek out the enemy troops and destroy them. We remained in the jungle for months, engaging the enemy daily. Daily my brother Marines were dying and my fears grew. I prayed that God would get me out of the nightmare alive. And with each man's death, those plans that we had all made with each other died with them. The faces of each man I served with remains forever etched in my mind.

Vietnam - dense tropical rain forests allowed for concealment of enemy troops and hid troop movements. The coasts are swamps or mountainous, and the deltas covered in rice farms, canals and streams which made movement through the country side difficult to say the least. Many of the villagers were spies who provided information, rations and recruits to those we were attempting to defeat. They even used children to gather information. I found myself surrounded, never knowing who the enemy was or who was a friend.

Little did I know as I fought my way through Vietnam, that some of the things that were happening over there would affect me for the rest of my life. The United States, in attempts to even the odds, sprayed Agent Orange in the jungle to kill off the foliage, making travel through the jungle safer and easier. Of course, no one talked about the effects of Agent Orange on humans - not then anyway. For myself, diabetes and neuropathy from the Agent Orange, hearing loss and tinnitus from the artillery that I both used and was surrounded by and post traumatic stress disorder from the experiences of that war have been my friends and constant companions ever since.

While in Vietnam, I saw so many children without food or clothing let alone toys. They lived without adequate shelter. So many basic necessities were denied to those people. I learned what it meant to have nothing. After two years of combat, we were getting close to leaving. I made a promise to God that if I lived, I would serve him and help the needy.

When I came home on December of 1966, it was to a warm bed and all the food and water I wanted, but it didn't make me happy. There were protests for the war I had fought in. People didn't like what I had done over there. They didn't want people over there period. I found myself very depressed and stayed mostly in my bedroom to be alone. I was having nightmares about my time in Vietnam. My dad was angry at the Marine Corps for what I had become - how I had changed. He said I was not the same boy that had left his home four years earlier. I was emotionally dead.

After a failed marriage and years of depression, my life changed. I had three children - one boy and two girls. My son went into the United States Marine Corps in 1988. and would be thrust into the combat during the first Gulf War. When he came home a young Marine invited him to church. My son got saved.

When he came home on leave, my wife Lynda and I watched as Ray read his Bible every day and night. It was because of Ray that myself and my two daughters got saved. My wife Lynda had been a Christian who attended Church all of her life. After that leave, when my son returned to duty, my family consisted of four children and a granddaughter. It is impossible for me to go into much detail as it would take years. To sum it all up, a young man from Pennsylvania wanted to serve his country was now committed to serving God. The miracle of God's grace is so amazing. Myself, my wife Lynda, all our children and 14 grandchildren are saved and serving God.

Being saved is a miracle of its own. I thought I could never get into heaven because of the things I had done in Vietnam. I had taken life which was against the 10 Commandments. I felt guilty for all that I had, believing that I didn't deserve the good things in life. I wondered why I had lived while so many others didn't.

I know that I can never repay God for all He has given me. I know that God sees my heart and has forgiven me of what I have done. With the help of my friends, my family, my pastor and my church, I am able to function and serve God on a daily basis. The last 22 years of my life have been so blessed I can't begin to put it into words. My God is so gracious and has made me a whole person again.

Long before I knew God, I was a good person who did good things. But that is not salvation. I gave food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, but I was not saved. Only by surrendering my life to the will of God, only by accepting the gift of salvation, have I found a place in heaven and wholeness for my life. Each day I ask God to show me the way he wishes me to take. Every day I pray that what I do is pleasing to him.

Pastor asked me to speak on Veteran's Day of my experiences, and I have. But I can no longer think of the horror without seeing the hand of God on my life through it all. It has been an honor to speak in the House of the Lord and I give him all the glory and honor for my life today.