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20 Feb 67
Hello Son,
How are you feeling today? We received your ‘Purple Heart” medal, I looked at it with mixed emotions. Happy because you are out of Vietnam: sad, because of the price you had to pay to get away from there. Let me say here and now that I’m extremely proud of you, son. Not because you were awarded the “Heart”, but because you did an honorable thing. I know you were bitterly against going into the service, and rejected our reasons for being in Vietnam. I also knew of your feelings about the U.S. and its treatment of Negroes. Yet, in spite of these conditions you did everything that was asked of you….I know that you made a prudent and honorable decision. It may not matter at all to you, but you are coming home a hero to us. Not a war hero, but more so because you made a man’s decision and stuck it out. You should feel proud of yourself….
Love,
Mom & Pop
from Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth E. Peeples Sr., Hollis, New York to their son Sp/4 Kenneth Peeples, Jr.
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Sp/4 Kenneth Peeples, Jr., arrived in Vietnam in June 1966 and served with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He was wounded in action in February 1967. When he returned home, he went back to college and earned his associate’s degree. “With the help of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act,” he writes, “I earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in library science. I later went on to get a second master’s degree in education.” Head of the Reference Department at LaGuardia Community College Library in the City University of New York, he is co-editor of a book on careers for minorities in librarianship, and editor-in-chief of a faculty journal for community colleges. He is the proud father of a son, damani, who works in network systems development, and a daughter, Ayanna, a star volleyball player in high school.
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