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Prewar:
Thomas Michael
Saal was born on the 26th of May in the year of 1945 in Akron,
Ohio. He had one older brother, one older sister, and one younger
brother. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a grocery store
manager. He grew up in Mogadore, Ohio. He attended Hoban High School and Kent
State. He liked school and was a good student. As a child Tom loved
to play sports. He especially liked: baseball, basketball, football and
running/track. He also enjoyed reading Mad
magazine.
Military:
He was twenty-one
years old when he joined the Marine Corps. He had wanted to join as a child
and wanted to fly planes, but could not because of his vision. The war had
been going on for one year before he had joined. He was proud to join the
military. He went to Paris Island to receive basic
training and then to officer school and enjoyed both of them. He became an
Infantry Officer/Platoon Commander, he requested his
job. He did not have any specialized skills or training that helped him get
his job. He did attend Basic School for officers for
six months to receive advanced job training. There he learned to lead forty
men. He did make friends during these times. He liked the food, the rules
were okay, the hours were very long, they stayed in barracks, and the weather
was hot.
Wartime military experience:
He traveled to Vietnam in a plane and
landed in a city named Da Nang. When he arrived
and got off the plane he was sad to see all the poor people and shooting
going on. He lived in a tent. The weather was always hot, humid, or rainy. A
lot of his friends did die, but the ones still living he has talked to some
of them since being discharged. He was sure he would die because he realized
his men and friends were dying. He did have to train second lieutenants and
defend AWOL Marines. He did
meet some POWs. The only news he got about the war was
through a magazine called “Stars and Stripes.” The most
impressive allied weapon he saw was a 50-caliber machine gun and a 105mm
Howitzer. The most impressive enemy weapon he saw was an AK 47.
He
did have contact with civilians and they treated him okay. There weren’t many
funny moments, but there was one he remembered where Tom and his sergeant
were sleeping in a rice field. All of the sudden his sergeant jumped up and
started smacking his own face and yelled because there was a leech on his
nose. He was stationed in the rice
paddies and the jungle. The men he was with were the 3rd
Battalion- 5th Marines. His tour began November of 1967. His Battalion
had
three hundred men. He was a Platoon Commander and
was in charge of forty marines. He was in the front lines. His most frightening
experience was when he was in the hospital hurt and there were rockets being
shot at the hospital. They were constantly patrolling so it was always
exhausting. He was very good at leading his men. He hated to have to shoot at
the enemy. His commanding officer was a good man. One battle he was in was
the Tet Offensive. He never had free time or left. He wrote to his parents and to his
first wife. He felt sad when his tour was over. His highest rank was First
Lieutenant. He received a Navy Commendation Medal and two Purple
Hearts. He also traveled home on a plane. There wasn’t a big
homecoming because he landed at a military base.
Postwar military experience:
After the war, his
tour ended he stayed in the military for two more years. He trained Second Lieutenants. His highest rank was First
Lieutenant. He was stationed in Vietnam and Quantico, Virginia.
Postwar:
Right after he was
discharged he went back to college. His first job after the war was a
teacher. He married in 1966, but got a divorce and then remarried in 1974, he
met his current wife teaching. He has four children: Denise, Erin, Anna, and
Ellen. He has lived in Akron ever since the
war. He’s belongs to the Disabled Veterans organization. His hobbies are
reading, running, and counseling drug and alcohol addicts, and counseling
returning Iraq War Veterans.
Tom (middle) and
his men.
Some of his awards
and badges.
Tom inspecting his
men’s rifles.
Newspaper
clippings of Tom and his men.
Newspaper
clippings of Tom and his men.
(Top left) Tom and
his mother. (Top right) Tom. (Bottom left) Tom. (Bottom right) Tom receiving
his second purple heart after stepping on a mine.
Tom was stationed
in Washington DC and Quantico Virginia.
Tom was stationed
in Da Nang too.
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