Voice from the past: Combat vet reconnects with long-ago platoon buddy
NORTHERN CHEYENNE, Montana (Billings Gazette) Laura Rockroads was in bed at her Busby home in 1970 when she heard a knock at the door. The mother of three answered each knock with “enter” in Northern Cheyenne. The door opened; a face she hadn’t seen in a year peered in. It was her son.
Thomas Rockroads Jr., now 72, returned home from combat in Vietnam before he was even legally allowed to vote. In spite of her rheumatoid arthritis, Laura sprang from the couch and yelled. The two had last seen each other in Billings, as Thomas boarded a 747 to begin his deployment. They had parted then with a Northern Cheyenne song that, 52 years later, the Bronze Star recipient still sings.
Vietnam veteran Thomas Rockroads Jr. s contribution to the Billings Gazette’s "Vietnam Voices" series turned up in a search by one of his old platoon members, Dennis Joanethis, a former private first class in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The two reunited recently.
PAUL HAMBY
U.S. Army veteran Thomas Rockroads Jr. talks about his experiences in Vietnam from the perspective of a Northern Cheyenne tribal member.
Laura Rockroads was in bed at her Busby home in 1970 when she heard a knock at the door. The mother of three answered each knock with âenterâ in Northern Cheyenne. The door opened; a face she hadn t seen in a year peered in. It was her son.
Thomas Rockroads Jr., now 72, returned home from combat in Vietnam before he was even legally allowed to vote. In spite of her rheumatoid arthritis, Laura sprang from the couch and yelled. The two had last seen each other in Billings, as Thomas boarded a 747 to begin his deployment. They had parted then with a Northern Cheyenne song that, 52 years later, the Bronze Star recipient still sings.