Correspondent photo / Kathryn Adams John Miller of Poland served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam in 1969. As a college graduate, he was sent to Non-Commissioned Officer School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and became a sergeant while stationed there.

POLAND — In 1969, the United States was on edge. The Vietnam War was in full gear — young men were being drafted to fight the north Vietnamese, while protesters were actively demanding that the killing stop, the war end and the soldiers be brought home. This was the atmosphere that John Miller found himself in when he was sent into what was an unpopular war.

Miller graduated from Chardon High School in 1964 and then earned a business degree at Ohio State University in 1968. He was married in September 1968 and then was drafted in 1969 into the U.S. Army.

“It was 1969; they drafted anybody and everybody,” Miller said.

Basic training took place at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he was selected for the infantry. College graduates immediately became officers, which involved being sent to Non-Commissioned Officer School in Fort Benning, Georgia. This is where Miller was designated a sergeant.

In December 1969, he was sent to Vietnam. Because of allergies, he was unable to serve outdoors, so was assigned to the PX (Post Exchange) — a large department-type store where he oversaw beer and liquor sales at the main base in Bien Hoa, Vietnam. Helicopters transported soldiers wherever they were needed at the nearby Air Force base in Linebinh.

Beer and alcohol sales were restricted. Noncommissioned officers could buy three cases of beer per month. Officers were permitted to buy three bottles of liquor and three cases of beer per month. Every officer had a punch card that kept track of sales. Miller supervised that department, assisted by a private and two Vietnamese locals.

“A lot of Vietnamese men and women worked at the PX, some spoke good English, some didn’t. Most of them were friendly,” Miller said.

Miller said containers of beer and liquor would be delivered by truck to the PX from the port in which they came. They were able to get two kinds of beer: Hamms beer came in aluminum cans while Carling Black Label came in steel cans that became rusted on the outside. Miller said that soldiers drank the Black Label anyway, but if you could get Hamms, it was like gold.

“Soldiers were coming and going, some arrived at the base pretty beat up. We would save the Hamms for those soldiers; they had been out in the jungle for who knows how long,” he said.

The only soft drink they sold was Coca-Cola. Occasionally they would get Shasta grape or orange, which was protected because it was hard to get.

His military pay was $235 per month, which was the rate then for a noncommissioned officer in a war zone.

“It was peanuts,” he said.

After Miller was discharged after nearly nine months of service, his plane made a stop at Oakland Air Force Base in California. He and the other soldiers were given civilian clothes and two duffle bags for their things. He said they were told when they got to the airport in Oakland to just go through the gate and get on the bus (which took them to the next plane), and to not let anyone know they served in the military.

“Because the protestors would spit on you,” Miller said.

After being discharged, he returned to his wife in Boardman and that his service “was out of sight, out of mind. I was done.”

Miller said his health is good, and he remains active at 80 by walking 4 to 6 miles a day in Mill Creek Park no matter the weather.

He talks about soldiers who were affected by Agent Orange, a chemical used to kill vegetation in the jungle. As a result, some veterans developed various cancers traced back to exposure to the chemical.

Miller talked about the constant heat, monsoons bringing heavy rainfall and feeling wet all the time.

“It was a total fluke that I got into the PX. I had a great life over there, no guard duty; it was the best job you could have. I followed orders, I did what I was assigned to do,” Miller said.