Butch Nehring: A Vietnam Veteran Story

By Kristi Gay, Freelance Writer

“We have a better future when we remember the past, learn from it, and move forward together.” - John McCain, Vietnam POW

On May 26 we will celebrate Memorial Day this year, and partially inspired by the Advanced World History quizzes I’m helping my high school daughter prepare for weekly, I was inspired to write an article about our servicemen in the Vietnam War. A family friend was kind enough to talk to me about his time in the service. Butch Nehring, a resident of Bloomer, Wisconsin, served our country after being drafted in 1967 as a 20-year-old UW-Stout college student studying social services and was deployed to Vietnam where he fought nearly two years in the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War is a particularly difficult war for our veterans to talk about because of how they were treated by our country upon returning home and finding out Americans were so against it. Young men who are drafted into service agree to it because they believe in our country and are willing to sacrifice to protect it. However, they rarely know details about why wartime decisions are made by the president or generals, and they simply are trained to follow orders and protect each other. After World War II, which generally felt like a clear fight against evil, the Vietnam War seemed confusing and distant as the US and France were trying to gain control over South Vietnam. Also for the first time, the war was televised, and people could see the brutality of the war on the nightly news, horrifying the public and creating a credibility gap on how the government was saying the war was going. With massive civilian casualties suffering immensely from bombings and chemicals like Agent Orange, people started to see it as an unjust or even immoral war.

Butch did have some good memories from their down time with what he describes as “his brothers”. They would rotate on a schedule, either “recon” or surveying a region by foot or on the road for the enemy, or being on “stand-by” to be called in for backup if the other crew found the enemy. During this down time, they would take the large wooden boxes that the mortars, or short cannons, came in and they built a full porch with a roof for their bunker, along with some porch furniture. Butch recalled with mischievous giggle when they figured out how to tap into the communications station’s 110V electricity to add porch lights to their otherwise completely dark living area until that caused radio issues and the lines were tested. They were meant to be limited to two beers per day, but their first sergeant would look the other way while they exceeded that while playing cards on their homemade porch. This type of bonding made it horrifically traumatizing when you see your buddies get blown to pieces in front of your eyes, as Butch got emotional multiple times recalling even the good times.

The estimates vary but the overall death toll is likely somewhere between 2.5-3.5 million people including civilians and soldiers from all sides, with nearly 60,000 of those being US military and hundreds of thousands of US military wounded.

Butch declined to re-up for $8,000 and a promotion to Staff Sergeant when he returned home in December 1968, just a couple days before Christmas, and was greeted by his brother and girlfriend at the Minneapolis airport. He proceeded to return to college and earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Pathology while running the night shift for a food processing plant in Bloomer, resulting in him being eventually hired to be Plant Manager. He recently celebrated 50 years of marriage with his wife, a retired school teacher and current real estate agent, Sue Nehring, and they share three kids and many grandchildren. When asked if his kids or grandkids were interested in joining the military, even after struggling with PTSD and losing most of his friends in the war, Butch said he would support their dream. There are many benefits to being in the military: country pride, leadership training, wonderful benefits, and as Butch said, “there is risk in anything” so follow your dreams.  

Thank you to all of our servicemen and women, regardless of what war you represented us in, and prayers and immense gratitude for all of those lost protecting our freedoms.