Tim Kearney
D.O.V.E. Fund member since 2005

I was in the first graduating class of ROTC Scholarship recipients when I graduated from the University of Dayton in April, 1967. This scholarship required four years of active duty and fortunately for me I was able to go to Vietnam as a Captain in the Finance Corps as opposed to going as an Infantry Lieutenant with Ranger School training. I was very blessed as a large percentage of infantry platoon leaders, including many of my friends’, names are on the Vietnam Wall today.

On April 15, 1970 I said my good-byes to my loving pregnant wife and beautiful 2 year old daughter. Like most of my compatriots, I arrived in Vietnam after a long plane ride with refueling stops in Alaska, Japan and Guam, not knowing where I was going inside of Vietnam. Some of you wouldn’t believe this but even this Ranger-Captain was scared – but just for a while. I got my orders to fly to An Khe in the central highlands not far from Pleiku where the 4th Infantry Division headquarters was deployed. I was the Assistant Finance Officer and it was our job to make sure that the troops of the 4th were paid on time. I had my own room in four-man hooch, a shower, and office but no flush toilet. (I know I am getting lots of sympathy from my fellow vets for this!). My happiest moment there was when I received a telegram in August from the Red Cross that my second daughter arrived three days earlier.

In October, I was reassigned to the Engineer Headquarters in Long Binh as the Budget Officer. I had to keep track of expenditures compared to the funded allocations but it didn’t matter anyway as the commanding general spent what ever it took to accomplish his mission of building roads, bridges, airfields etc. This job’s conditions were an improvement and included flush toilets, running water, a swimming pool, and weekly trips to Saigon for accounting updates.

My tour in Vietnam was difficult only in the sense that I was separated from my family for a year. I must admit that my duties were easy and like most government support jobs even today, we were over-staffed and inefficient. At the end of my tour I was very happy to return home to my family, resign my commission, buy a home in Cleveland, start a new career as a CPA, and forget the past year.