Troubled hero : a Medal of Honor, Vietnam, and the war at home

Born in rural Illinois, Ken Kays was a country boy who flunked out of college and wound up serving as a medic in the Vietnam War. On May 7, 1970, after only 17 days in Vietnam and one day after joining a new platoon, the young medic found himself in a ferocious battle. As a conscientious objector, Kays did not carry any weapons, but his actions during that engagement would earn him the Congressional Medal of Honor. Yet Kays' valor came during just another unheralded fire fight near the end of a long and seemingly fruitless war. He returned home and, with other vets, struggled to reconcile his anti-war beliefs with what he and others had done in Vietnam. This dramatic and tragic story is a timely reminder of the price of war and the fragile comforts of peace.

Born in rural Illinois, Ken Kays was a country boy who flunked out of college and wound up serving as a medic in the Vietnam War. On May 7, 1970, after only 17 days in Vietnam and one day after joining a new platoon, the young medic found himself in a ferocious battle. As a conscientious objector, Kays did not carry any weapons, but his actions during that engagement would earn him the Congressional Medal of Honor. Yet Kays' valor came during just another unheralded fire fight near the end of a long and seemingly fruitless war. He returned home and, with other vets, struggled to reconcile his anti-war beliefs with what he and others had done in Vietnam. This dramatic and tragic story is a timely reminder of the price of war and the fragile comforts of peace.

Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction: I’d Give My Immortal Soul for That Medal......Page 14 Part I......Page 22 1. Down in Egypt......Page 24 2. Where Have All the Flowers Gone?......Page 34 3. A Party School......Page 49 4. I Felt I Was Born That Weekend......Page 59 5. Maybe I Can Help Somebody......Page 69 Part II......Page 78 6. My Life Changed Forever......Page 80 7. They Stood Alone......Page 101 8. Just a Damn Piece of Metal......Page 136 9. Back in the World......Page 154 Appendixes......Page 164 Notes......Page 172 Note on Sources......Page 180 Bibliography......Page 182 Index......Page 184 "Kenneth Kays was born in the conservative farm country of southern Illinois. The sixties were in full flower by the time Ken went off to college and discovered a world quite different from the one back home. On campus, drug culture flourished and the Vietnam War had polarized students. College meant a draft exemption, but in spring of 1969 Kays flunked out of school and soon received his draft notification. Denied conscientious objector status, he fled to Canada only to return. Yielding at last to pressure from family and community leaders, he joined up."