“In two days we’re going to vote for our president of the United States of America. As we were looking through my photos, I showed people who literally put their lives on the line to vote and run for office,” Medlin said, referring to a scrapbook he brought with him.

Medlin left Vietnam early on an emergency leave to visit his mother who was in the hospital and not expected to live. (She did survive.)

He departed Da Nang on a C-141 Starlifter at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, making stops at Okinawa, Guam and Honolulu before landing at Norton at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1.

The journey took 46.5 hours, and Medlin said he was a zombie when he landed.

As it was an emergency leave, he did not have family there to greet him. He took a bus to Los Angeles where he met and had breakfast with his brother, who lived in Englewood. After staying the night with his brother, he flew to Atlanta so see his mother in the hospital.

Medlin shared that he had hoped to get “a real American hamburger” in Hawaii but it was 2 a.m. when he arrived and everything was closed.

Due to his exhaustion from the long trip, Medlin says he doesn’t remember much about his first days back in the United States, but he does remember feeling frustration for people’s indifference for the war and what was happening in Vietnam.

“Forty-eight hours before I was in-country. Then I was back here, a place were people were concerned with pollution of the water and the air. I remember these were the concerns, and I said, ‘What about the pollution of the body bags? What about that pollution?’ They weren’t involved; no one was trying to kill them. So, they didn’t care,” Medlin said.