Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
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Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
From Michigan Farm to Vietnam: Jim Hock's Military Service and Life
From running a family farm at age 13 to saving lives under enemy fire in Vietnam, Jim Hock's journey exemplifies the resilience and quiet heroism of a generation. Born in Michigan in 1943 and adopted at age two, Jim's life took an unexpected turn when his draft notice arrived in 1966—just as he and his wife were settling into a new apartment, with boxes still unpacked.
Trained as a combat medic despite having studied business administration in college, Jim describes the heart-wrenching moment of saying goodbye to his wife before deploying: "I knew when I kissed her goodbye that I was never gonna see her again." This powerful certainty of his own death hangs over his entire Vietnam narrative, making his survival all the more poignant.
Jim's vivid recollections bring listeners into the chaos and courage of wartime medical service—from treating his first casualties under fire to rescuing soldiers from a burning ammunition dump. He shares bittersweet moments too: watching Bob Hope and Raquel Welch perform for the troops, receiving care packages from home, and the surreal instruction not to wear his uniform at the airport when returning home to avoid harassment from war protesters.
What makes Jim's story truly remarkable is how he transformed potential trauma into a full life after Vietnam. Returning to General Motors where he worked for 39 years, raising three children, and using his medical training to save lives in civilian settings—including once saving his own daughter from choking. Now celebrating 61 years of marriage, Jim leaves listeners with hard-earned wisdom: "Just feel lucky that you're in a country that you're free to do it. Follow your dreams. Don't give up."
Want to hear more stories of courage and resilience? Subscribe now and share this episode with someone who appreciates the sacrifices made by our veterans.
Good morning. Today is Monday, may 5th 2025. We're talking with Jim Hock, who served in the United States Army. So good morning Jim, good morning, great to see you, Thank you. So we're going to start out easy. I'm just going to ask when and where were you born?
Speaker 2:I was born in Muskegon Michigan, and that was in 1943.
Speaker 1:Okay, so did you grow up in Muskegon 1943.
Speaker 2:Okay, so did you grow up in Muskegon? I was actually from a large family. My mother and my real father separated and I wound up being adopted into another family. My adoptive parents and I basically grew up around Belding, michigan on a farm, and that's where I was basically raised around.
Speaker 1:Belding. Okay, so were you just a baby when you were adopted out.
Speaker 2:I was probably about two years old. My parents that adopted me couldn't have any children and they were neighbors to the lady that had me and they she wanted to have too many children to take care of, and one knows. They wanted to adopt me and they did.
Speaker 1:So you got to go grow up on a farm? Yes, I did. What was that like for you?
Speaker 2:It was a very interesting. We had a lot of animals and stuff and when I was 13 years old, my father got very sick and I did all the planting, all the harvesting. I ran that farm all by myself, 13 years old. Wow, my mother come out one day. I was trying to change a plow share and I was using some language I probably shouldn't have been. She just turned around and walked back into the house. So if he's old enough to do that, he's old enough to vent.
Speaker 1:Oh, no doubt. So you didn't have any other brothers and sisters at your adoptive family?
Speaker 2:No, nobody. I was an only child for them.
Speaker 1:That's a lot for a 13-year-old kid. It was yeah, but I can tell you have a lot of pride in it.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, when I got to take my driver's license it was no problem because I'd driven everything you could think of almost by that time.
Speaker 1:And you could drive a stick shift too. Yes, I could. I always told my kids if you can drive a stick shift, you can drive anything.
Speaker 2:That's right, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So what kind of farming did you do?
Speaker 2:It was just crop farming, basically, and we had dairy cows and a lot of different animals and stuff. So one day my dad was carrying a bucket full of eggs back from the hen house. We had a banny rooster, flew into the bucket of eggs, broke most of them. Guess what we had for Sunday dinner Did it have a name. My dad called him many names, but it was a Banny rooster.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, Wow. So you basically had to be the man of the house and kind of run things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for that one year I did yeah. Then my daddy did get better.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, yeah, came back and took over. Was that hard for you for him to take over, since you had that whole year kind of running it your way?
Speaker 2:I think I was kind of relieved. Yeah, I had other things I wanted to do at that age.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you were in school.
Speaker 2:Then you went to and other things I wanted to do at that age. Yeah, so you were in school then. Yes, it was a little country school.
Speaker 1:Now, was that like a K-12 school then?
Speaker 2:K-8,. I think it was yeah. Then we went to high school from there.
Speaker 1:Did you go to Belding High School? Went to.
Speaker 2:Belding High School. Okay, and my wife at that time lived just down the road from us. We both had horses growing up.
Speaker 1:If you think about it. I know kids today are like oh, horses, that's a lot of fun, but that was kind of a necessity.
Speaker 2:It kind of was yeah.
Speaker 1:But you still got to have a good time. Oh yes, so was there anything in school that you really enjoyed?
Speaker 2:I enjoyed sports. I participated in sports In 4-H. We did that, so yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:And what kinds of things did you do in 4-H?
Speaker 2:Just mostly like you know what things farmers do have shows for the animals and things like that. Okay.
Speaker 1:All right, I do a few. 4-h shows myself at the county fairs. So it's always my daughter showed horses, okay, so they really enjoyed that, and so you made it through school then, did you?
Speaker 2:graduate. Yeah, I graduated from Belding. Unfortunately my wife, her father, passed away as she was in we were in eighth grade in country school, and so her and her family, they moved to Alma where her mother's sister lived and up by the. Masonic Home that's where her mother's sister lived, and up by the Masonic home that's where her mother went to work, and so we kind of dated back and forth between Belden and Alma. Finally one day I says this is costing too much money for gas.
Speaker 1:Let's get married. How romantic, that's so funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was no cell phones and no email back then. No, not back then.
Speaker 1:no, Not at all, so yeah, so how old were you when?
Speaker 2:you got married. Let's see, I was 64.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 1964. And you just had our 64th anniversary this year.
Speaker 1:Well, congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. Well, congratulations, thank you. That's amazing, uh-huh yeah, especially with that romantic ask.
Speaker 2:Yeah For her.
Speaker 1:So you got married right away and then so 64, this would have been right at the beginning of Vietnam or kind of in the middle.
Speaker 2:No, I'm not sure if it was at the beginning or because it was definitely going on. Yep.
Speaker 1:We can hold on for a second.
Speaker 2:Should I.
Speaker 1:If you want to you can go ahead and answer it, I can Go ahead. I can't reach it, I can edit it.
Speaker 2:Oh, my phone's out of the way.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry. All right, hi. This is McLaren Cardiology calling for Linda, regarding your next appointment with Dr.
Speaker 2:King, and I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:It's okay, there we go. This happens all the time, all the time, okay, okay. So we're talking about the Vietnam War. So you've graduated and you're married now.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And the war is going on. So were you drafted.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, and the war is going on. So were you drafted? Okay, I was working at General Motors at the time, full-time. I would go into college full-time, my wife and I were trying to have children and things that just you know. This was 1966 at this time and things didn't happen. And so I dropped down to part-time student one term because my grade point I was trying to get my grade point up, and then we moved into another apartment. We didn't even have the boxes unpacked. I got a letter from the draft board. I had a report.
Speaker 1:I was being drafted. Wow, they don't waste any time. That was in 1966, yep.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh, yep. So then I moved her up to Alma, where her mother and where she used to live at that time, and that's when I reported for my training at Fort Knox. Okay, I mean, it was a crushing blow, but anyway, that's when I left for my basic training. And once I got my basic training done, that's when I learned I was being sent to Fort Sam Houston to be a medic.
Speaker 1:Okay, I want to be a medic. Okay, I want to ask a couple questions, though, before we get too far in. And that is what was it like for you in basic training? You grew up on a farm, so you clearly weren't afraid of a hard day's work no but what was it like getting there and how was that for you?
Speaker 2:I think I just felt like freedom was taken away because I couldn't do everything I wanted to do at that time and I was like I said I was going to college and everything and it was kind of a hard type of life to live with after being married and being responsible adults and everything, to be treated like they have to treat some people. So one time we was out on a patrol and this guy ahead of me, big, tall guy, kept getting out of step and the sergeant was screaming at me kick him, kick him. I said so, I'm not gonna kick him, he'll turn around and kill me. Oh, then the sergeant kicked me about twice and I went down on my knees. Then I started kicking that guy ahead of me. Anyway, lived through it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lessons learned right, yes, yeah, so you graduate basic training and then you head off to Fort Sam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Fort Sam Houston. I was shocked because I thought of all the training I had. I was in school, I was studying business administration. I thought, well, maybe I'll get an office job. Well, that didn't work. I felt imbued. I still think they thought well, he's going to college, he's smart enough to be a medic and I think that's part of the reason I got there.
Speaker 1:So this whole experience so far, everything's been chosen for you. You haven't really had any choices, that's right.
Speaker 2:And I was, like I said, I was very apprehensive about this because I knew medics that the enemy would shoot somebody and wait for somebody to come out and help them. That would be their next target.
Speaker 1:Right, right. So what was Fort Sam Houston like for you?
Speaker 2:Oh, it was very interesting. I mean, obviously I learned a lot of things that I used for the rest of my life. Actually I helped save lives after I got out of the service too, from the training that I used for the rest of my life. Actually I helped save lives after I got out of the service too, from the training that I had. So anyway, but I got out of the. After my medical training I found out I was going to the 1st Infantry Division as a combat medic and I was very scared. So anyway, I said I had a couple of weeks to leave before I left for Vietnam. And I will never forget my wife. She's standing on the runway, brown coat for a collar, and I knew when I kissed her goodbye that I was never gonna see her again. I just knew it yeah so it was.
Speaker 1:It was awful how did you deal with that? Because you had it's like, it's not like, you have a choice, you have to go. No, but you're terrified all at the same time.
Speaker 2:I said, like I said, I could still see her as I looked out on the window of the airplane and away we went. Yeah, it was a long, long flight to Vietnam. We landed at Ben Hoa Airport and it was nighttime. They had us pull all the shades down on the windows. We was coming in for a landing and they kept high altitude when we landed it was like we took a nose dive into the to the runway to avoid enemy fire.
Speaker 1:good, old combat landing. I think yeah, definitely was a combat landing yeah so yeah, and yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 2:And then it was after we stayed, got landed, we was given our unit assignments and I found out that I was going to the 1st Infantry Division and I was assigned to the 1st and 7th Artillery, which was 105 howitzers. And I said for the first time I felt a glimmer of hope that I might get home alive, as I wasn't going to an infantry unit but was in support of them. So then it wasn't long after I got into Vietnam that one of our medics got wounded and I had to go out to the file to replace him and he was a big, tall guy and he took took a lot of shrapnel in his back. I don't know if I would have survived had it been.
Speaker 2:You know my thinking all that right and that's when the first casualties I had to work on was the worst I had the whole year I was there. It was an artilleryman. He was on his second tour in Vietnam. He was carving his initials into a 105 Howitzer with a screwdriver and a hammer and it exploded, injured him and two others. And he exploded, injured him and two others, and when I got there they were both. Everybody was yelling for me to help them and they all bled from their waist up to their helmet, because we had flag vests but nobody wore them.
Speaker 2:Right we had flag vests but nobody wore them Right, you know Right. And so, anyway, the one guy, he had his broken arm. He had two spots of broken arm when I was hanging out. It was just bad and, like I said, I felt like I was the most inadequate medic in the world at that point in time and I was trying to do what I was trained for and a person kept getting in my way. I told him to stay out of my way and I did not know.
Speaker 2:There was a field hospital just down the road from us. After I told him to get out of my way, he told me that he was a doctor and so we worked together, got the injured out, airlifted to another hospital and anyway, afterwards he started talking to me and told me all the things that I did good, said I did a good job, and he actually gave me the confidence that I needed at that point. That got me through that rest of the year and so we spent about nine months of the whole year out in the field. We'd go out and we'd go back to base camp once in a while to just get rearmed and supplies and stuff, and so, anyway, zeon was our base camp. That's where we went back. So, anyway, zeon was our base camp. That's where we went back and apparently my performance with my first casualties impressed the doctor I worked for, as I was promoted to a spec five specialist and I only had 11 months in the Army, that's pretty quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was quick. You must have done something, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I had one medic who worked for me who was what they called a conscientious objector yes they didn't believe in the war and refused to carry weapons.
Speaker 2:However, he was drafted, he answered his country's call and he was a very good medic and so, and I'll never forget, if we were set near a village at nighttime, it was fairly easy to tell if we were going to get hit that night, because all the lights in the village would be on. We almost knew that something was going to happen, and so we had tents to stay in as well. We had bunkers to get into. If we did come under attack One night, it was we had set up and we were told we had to get out of the area we was at. So we had to go reset up again and I was so tired I slept in a bunker with my head actually laying in a puddle of water. I never would sleep real well until I heard the cooks making noise, getting breakfast.
Speaker 1:Then that's when.
Speaker 2:I could fall back asleep and one of our worst attacks happened when some Vietnamese women sent an ammo dump on fire in Lai Kei and I mean there was explosions all over the place and I saw them carry out. One of the women who was killed and set to fire she had a water blister on her back that covered putting all of her bad. She was dead and I knew there was people in the ammo dump finally convinced the MPs to let me and another medic to enter into the ammo dump area and so, even though things were still still burning, we followed in and found some men in a bunker who were afraid to come out. I finally told the sergeant I said get these guys out of here and get them safe. And they got out and they all survived and I was put in by my sergeant for that action for a Silver Star award. But he was just getting ready to retire from the Army and I saw the paperwork but somehow it got lost and it never happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that happens, yeah, so and we did have some fun times. I'll never forget. I saw Bob Hope Christmas show. He and Raquel Welch and Barbara McNair were on the stage. I remember Barbara McNair singing a song. I Am a Woman. Like I said, he doubted among the 200 GIs looking on the stage.
Speaker 1:What about Raquel Welch? She was quite something.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, they were both beautiful. Then one other time was back in our base camp and we had a barracks brawl. Somebody hit me hard. I was lying on the floor and I couldn't move, but I could hear what was going on. I heard somebody yell out go get the medic. Somebody yelled out he is the medic. Oh no, what was the?
Speaker 1:cause of the brawl, you know I don't know.
Speaker 2:Everybody got bad. Everybody was drinking too much. You know, after spending weeks out in the field anyway, blowing off some steam and beating up the medic right I don't know.
Speaker 2:I always enjoyed getting letters from home. Linda and I would send little tape things back. We'd send tapes back home to each other, and so one day Saigon was coming out of a fierce attack. One time I went to a store in Bedouin, bought a set of china dinnerware which I sent home on a ship. Not one piece got chipped or anything. It came through perfect so anyway. And then one day I was in our medical building when I heard a helicopter approaching and all of a sudden I heard an abnormal noise, an explosion. And what happened? The rotor came off, the helicopter, cut the back end of it off and it fell right into the building next to us and the people in the building. They survived, but everyone on the helicopter were killed, and there were three people on that helicopter that had their suitcases and was catching a ride to the airport to come home because their tour was done. They were all killed, and so I'll never forget it because their tour was done.
Speaker 2:They were all killed, and so I'll never forget. As my tour was almost done, I had six months left to go to the Army. They said if I extended there three months in Vietnam, I could get out early. And I said I don't want to stay here three more minutes, get me on a plane to come home. And so, anyway, when I was getting ready to come home, I was astounded that we were told not to wear our uniform to the airport, as protesters would call us baby killers, spit and throw things at us, and I just never could. I just never understood that.
Speaker 2:Anyway, my last assignment in the Army was at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, new York. It was a chaplain's school base and my wife came out with me. We had an enjoyable experience, as we got a lot of free tickets to the Broadway plays and baseball games, and I don't know, I just feel so blessed to have made it home. As a medic, my medical training has helped me save other lives over the years. One was my daughter at one time who was choking, and so that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1:So did she show up in the brown coat with the fur collar when you saw her again, your wife. When I came home. Yeah, I was just curious. I don't remember. You were just probably so happy to be home.
Speaker 2:I was. Yeah, it doesn't even matter. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So how many kids did?
Speaker 2:you have. Well, afterwards we adopted our first daughter, uh-huh. Then we had two of our own, uh-huh.
Speaker 1:So three children all together.
Speaker 2:Three all together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, children all together, three all together. So I'd like to talk a little bit about what you did after you got home, if that's alright.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, fortunately, with the war going on in GM and stuff, I got to keep my seniority kept going on there and so I went back and I got an associate degree and I just didn't, I don't know. I just didn't have the urge to go to school after I got back as much as I did before, because I had a good job at GM. It was a real good payout and I had a lot of good experiences there. One time I was responsible for trying out a new engine assembly line in Italy and so I was in charge of getting the planes, all the parts, over there. And we got over there and was waiting for the parts to be delivered at where we were at, but there was a soccer game going on and these two Italians, they, didn't want to miss the soccer game, so they took my plane to the wrong airport and then I had to truck everything from the airport back to the place where we were.
Speaker 1:They have their priorities over there, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, they do, yes, they do so anyway, I had some good, very good experience working for GM. Like I said, I had 39 years in when I retired, nine years in when I retired and when we got back, this is where we finally bought our first house right here, and we were the third house out here at the time, and so we love it out here And-.
Speaker 1:So you lived here in this house since oh yeah, really since you got back, yeah, pretty much, yeah, wow so yeah, this house was pretty expensive back then.
Speaker 2:It was $17,000.
Speaker 1:I remember when I bought my first house, my father-in-law almost lost his mind because it was just so expensive. But you know, that's how it works right, that's right, absolutely. The world keeps on turning it does it does so can you tell me a little bit about your children and what they're doing now?
Speaker 2:Well, my one child she lives up by Grayling and she works up there. She's divorced. In fact, unfortunately, all three of my kids are divorced. My next daughter she works at the Red Cross here in Lansing and she's been there for many, many years and she's with a love of her life. Right now they're not married but he's been very, very ill so she's working hard to support him. And our son he lives near the high school here in Portland. He works for Gordon's Food in Brighton but he loves living here so he drives back and forth every day that's a drive so, but between that we got a lot of great grandkids and great grandkids and we just love them.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's great. And you said you just celebrated your 61st anniversary. So things seem to be turning out for you. Oh yes, I was curious Did you ever find or meet up with any of your siblings from your birth mother?
Speaker 2:I had one sister, my birth mother. When I was born, her husband was in the service in World War II. He was overseas. Come home he had a surprise. I was there, and so my first name was Leffering. Well, he forgave her and adopted me to his name, which was Goodwin. He got deployed again and when he came home I had another baby sister and that was the end of that. So that's when they separated and so that's when I got adopted to my third name.
Speaker 1:Hock Okay.
Speaker 2:I have more last names than a lot of ladies. Yes, Anyway but one of the sisters, my youngest other sister. She got adopted out too and she died of cancer. One of my other half-sisters knew my mother and dad knew where I was at. So she said we're going to find Jim and they found me and so I kind of had some relationship with them. But that was kind of a different family.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And anyway, then, since that sister passed away, I haven't really had any contact with them, but it was quite an experience.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'll bet. And also you served in the Michigan National Guard for a while.
Speaker 2:Yes, I served over there in Grand Ledge and I served in the medical department because I knew my training would get me a good job over there and I enjoyed it for quite a while. But after a while, between working overtime and everything, I just became a little bit too much.
Speaker 1:So did you go to Camp Grayling for training when?
Speaker 2:you were there, yes.
Speaker 1:So was this in the 70s? Oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2:That's about I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was in the 70s yeah, oh, okay, so the 1970s Can you? I'm just curious. I served in the National Guard myself, and a lot of people I interview served in the Guard. What was it like in the 70s to serve in the National Guard? Can you talk a little bit about just some of your experiences there?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know. I mean, I don't remember a whole lot about it. I enjoyed the summer camps, enjoyed the friendship, the camaraderie that you have. And then, like I said, I had one neighbor that was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He was over there. So we made a lot of friends and stuff and like I said, I had one neighbor that was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He was over there.
Speaker 1:So we made a lot of friends and stuff, a lot of shared experience, that kind of thing. Okay, all right.
Speaker 2:Was there anything that we haven't talked about that you'd like to talk about? No, I don't know. I'm just worried about the way things are going on in the world today and I don't know, I'm just worried about the way things are going on in the world today. Uh-huh and I don't know. I just can't figure out what's going on in the world today, a lot of people I talk to feel that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and I always felt all the lies that were lost in Vietnam. You know that we didn't win the war. I always felt because they didn't let us you don't beat somebody when you wait for them to come into your own area I always felt if we'd have went north and we could. I don't know if that would have been right or wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But, things might have been different.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I had a neighbor boy that I grew up with. He was killed in Vietnam.
Speaker 1:So what was it like? So you served, you were in Vietnam, you came home, you kind of went on about your life and then we left Vietnam and we didn't really leave under great circumstances. What was that like for you to kind of see that happen after having been there?
Speaker 2:Again, I just felt what a waste of 56,000 lives. They're gone. There's nothing you can do about them, right?
Speaker 1:A lot of young men.
Speaker 2:Yes, there was. I felt just so lucky that I could have been one of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, like you said, when you were getting on the plane, you felt pretty certain that you weren't going to come back.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you did that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I did it. It was hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and here you are. You had a great career. You raised a family. You've been married to your wife for a good long time, living out here in Portland. By the way, it was a beautiful drive out here. The only really question I have left is for someone listening to your story years from now what message would you like to leave for them?
Speaker 2:Just feel lucky that you're in a country that you're free to do it. Follow your dreams. Just keep following your dreams. Don't give up.
Speaker 1:That's what you did, right? Yep, all right. Well, thanks for taking time out on a Monday morning to talk with me, jeff.
Speaker 2:Thank you for being here, I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:You're welcome.
