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Griffin Daily News
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VIETNAM VETERAN George Tucci works on a car
at his Merrimac, Mass., service station.
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8
Friday, July 16,1971
Gas Station Owner Is 'No Crybaby'
Legless Vet Doesn't Need Any Pity
I Ed. Note: This is one oj
a series of reports by Tom
Tiede on America’s 2.5
million surviving Vietnam
veterans.)
By TOM TIEDE
MERRIMAC, Mass.—
iNEAI—As he remembers it,
George Tucci shouldn’t have
been on that Vietnam convoy
in the winter of 1965. He had
been a half year in the war.
wounded twice, and was
overdue for a week’s fur
lough-rest. But they said the
convoy would be important,
they said they needed expe
rienced men along, and so
the then-Sgt. Tucci mounted
a tank in the middle of the
line and set off with the rest.
It was 1 p.m. on Highway
13, northwest of Saigon.
“I remember the time, be
cause my watch stopped.
What happened was the
enemy rigged a couple of
155 mm artillery shells in the
middle of the road and deto
nated them just as my tank
was going over. I was way
back in the line, all kinds of
vehicles had already gone
by safely, but . . . blooey!
It blew my tank to hell. My
gunner and my loader were
killed right there. And I got
it pretty bad myself.’’
Sgt. Tucci got it more than
bad. His feet were shredded
with iron fragments, his
body was pitted with pieces
of debris, his left arm was
mangled and snapped—and
his back was busted in six
places. He was evacuated to
immediate emergency sur
gery where he nearly died.
His condition was so serious
he lost 85 pounds of body
weight in the first 13 days
following the explosion. He
remembers nurses looking at
him and shaking their heads.
He remembers thinking even
himself that he was gone.
But he lived. What was
left of him, anyway. He
stayed in hospitals for the
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next three and one-ha If
years, underwent a total of
38 operations, and was finally
released—without legs, with
out any feeling from the
waist down, and in a semi
spastic condition which, if
he’s jarred in the wrong
place, can leave him shaking
out of control.
Talk about the readjust
ment difficulties of Vietnam
veterans. As a paraplegic.
George Tucci faced the
worst. The nation has not
been able to easily absorb
even the physically sound
returning soldiers, much less
those in wheelchairs.
And while at present there
are almost 500,000 Viet vets
who are either out of work,
on drugs or having other
serious problems, it’s the
physically handicapped
among them who are in
deepest depression. A guy
without a work skill can be
trained, a junkie can be re
habilitated—but the legless,
armless or blind veterans
often (if erroneously) feel
there is no future at all for
them in the nation.
At times during his agoniz
ingly long recovery period,
George Tucci had the sinks
too. He wondered how his
wife would take his paraly
sis, he dreaded the curiosity
of his young son. He’s seen
others like him in the wards,
some who’d been there since
former wars, and he dreaded
even quick thoughts about
such existence.
But, as it happens, Tucci is
not the type for prolonged
self pity nor can he allow
himself less of life than he
can grab with his hands. Call
it courage, or tenacity, but
those are silly, inadequate
words. Today, George Tucci,
now 27, is a self-employed,
respected, even admired
citizen of his community—
and is a fellow who is simply
too rambunctious to be de
feated by difficulties.
THE
SOLDIER
COMES
HOME
Tucci owns a Mobil serv
ice station here in Merrimac,
a tiny community, ’ the
birthplace of John Greenleaf
Whittier,” in northwestern
Massachusetts. And though
an occasional motorist will
still drive up, see Tucci in
his wheelchair, and get out
to help the man—the man
does not need help. Tucci
needs no legs to pump the
gas, check the oil, wipe the
windows or. to be sure, take
the money.
"I have this long-handled
squeegee for the windows.
And I can adjust my chair
high-low to get into the
engines. Man, I give the
folks a little show with their
gas. I whip back and forth
and here and there. The
tourists can’t believe it. They
come in and see me and
they stumble all over them
selves wondering. But unless
they park too close to the
island—l can’t wheel if
they’re too close to the
island—it isn’t any different
if it’s me, or my father, or
my brother that services the
car. I think I can do as good
a job, maybe better, than
guys with legs.’’
People here in Merrimac
agree. But then they are
prejudiced. They think
George Tucci is the best
thing in Merrimac since,
well, since John Greenleaf
Whittier. "It ain’t just he
can run the station,” says
one regular customer, "it’s
that he’s a helluva human
being. I mean, you know
other guys coming back from
Vietnam, they’re out
screaming around, feeling
sorry for themselves, and
they ain’t even scratched.
Now George, he’s got reason
to scream or carry on—but
he don’t. George is different
from a lot of young today—
he ain’t no crybaby.”
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
BABY’S JOKE MISFIRES
STRATFORD,Eng land (UPI)
-Two-year-old Paul Johnson’s
mother did not appreciate the
joke when he crept up behind
her, put his hands over her
eyes and shouted: “Peek-a
--boo!”
Mrs. Delcina Johnson, 32,
happened to be driving the
family car at 30 miles per hour
at the time. The vehicle
swerved across the road and hit
a parked van.
Mrs. Johnson received mul
tiple head injuries requiring
several stitches as well as a
black eye. The car was badly
damaged. But baby Paul was
unhurt.
Whence Its Nickname
Pennsylvania is nicknamed
the "Keystone State” be
cause the early inhabitants
proudly proclaimed that
their state held together the
great arch of the United
States, extending from
Georgia to Maine.
DR. LAWRENCE E. LAMB
Information Sparse
On Snuff, Pipe Use
Dr. Lawrence Lamb, M.D.
Dear Dr. Lamb— This next
school year I am to teach a
segment on the effects of
chewing tobacco and dipping
snuff. There has been lots
of information on the effects
of smoking, but I have very
little information on chewing
and dipping. We have more
youngsters in junior high
schools using tobacco in
these forms than in smoking.
Will you please tell me where
I might write for some infor
mation?
Dear Reader—There is a
lot less information on this
problem simply because it
is a lot herder to find as
many snuff dippers or to
bacco chewers than it is io
find cigarette smokers. Your
comments suggest it will
soon be easier. We have the
same problem with evaluat
ing the effects of cigar and
particularly pipe smoking. I
would suggest that you
write, U.S. Department of
HEW Public Health Serv
ice. Health Services and
Mental Health Administra
tion, National Clearinghouse
for Smoking and Health, Ar
lington, Va. 22203.
You can be certain that
absorbing tobacco through
Red and Mildred
RESTAURANT
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After Vacation Rest
"Same Good Food As Usual”
the lungs, by smoke or dip
ping snuff or by absorption
from the mouth all result in
taking nicotine, which is a
drug. The standard refer
ences to nicotine poisoning
applies. A chronic tolerance
can be developed w i t h a
form of habituation. In ad
dition. some doctors have
stated that swallowing to
bacco juice may increase the
incidence of cancer of the
digestive tract or the blad
der. It is possible that to
bacco in excessive amounts
may decrease sexual capac
ity. I can’t think of anything
good that it does, except sup
port the tobacco industry, if
that’s good.
SAD SUF
BLETCHLEY, England
(UPl)—Susan Broadbent says
she will tell a British Rail
hearing the railroad’s plan to
cut a passenger service will
upset her love life.
Susan, 15, travels four miles
each way, twice a week over
flie threatened line between
Bletchley and Bedford to see
her boy friend, Malcolm
Bagshaw, 18. There is no bus
service between the towns.