Voices of Veterans: Danny Garrett Shares His Story of Service in the U.S. Army During the Vietnam War
AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans Oral History Program. This week, we highlight the service of Danny Garrett, who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
Garrett was born in Dodge City, Kansas, on February 21, 1945, while his father was temporarily stationed there during World War II; otherwise, Garrett said, he would have been born in Texas. He grew up in Freeport, Texas, where he graduated from high school in May 1963. He would go on to graduate from Stephen F. Austin State University in January 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in June of the same year.
He said that when he received his draft notice, “The Vietnam War was at its height then. They were still mopping up from Tet, so I was a little concerned about my future.” Garrett’s father had passed away a couple of years before, but his mother shared his concerns. “She was not too pleased,” he shared. “But both my father and my grandfather had served in World War II and World War I, and on both sides of the family, there was a history of military service. So she pretty much accepted the fact that I too was going to serve.”
He went to boot camp at Fort Bliss in El Paso and went on to Advanced Individual Training, where he hoped to become an “Eleven Charlie,” the colloquial term for an Indirect Fire Infantry Soldier or mortarman in the U.S. Army. He discussed how he was placed in a Noncommissioned Officer Candidate Course but declined the offer to become a Sergeant because he did not want to lead men in combat in Vietnam without prior combat experience. He was ordered to Vietnam in May 1969 and served in the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Light Infantry Brigade from 1969 to 1970 as a Forward Observer.
After landing in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, Garrett said the men were loaded onto buses with a surprising feature. “We were getting off the plane and being loaded on buses, and I noticed that the buses had grill work on the windows. This was something you didn’t see in the United States. The reason for the grillwork on the windows was so that nobody could throw a grenade into the bus,” he said. “So, at that point, I knew I was in a different place than what I was used to.” Garrett also admitted that he felt very fortunate to be in an area of operations that was agriculturally settled with villages rather than in the jungles of Vietnam.
Garrett recounted that not long after he had arrived in Vietnam, he and other men had been delivering supplies to a bombed-out French-Catholic church where a unit was stationed. After leaving and traveling a short distance to the fire base to eat lunch, the men saw a firefight break out at the church. “While I was sitting out there eating, I witnessed a severe firefight,” he recalled. “In the midst of it, an American got up and actually charged, I say charged, but he deliberately walked while firing; he wasn’t running, and he caused the enemy positions to disengage and retreat. That was probably the bravest thing I saw.”
While serving, Garrett was injured by shrapnel to his left eye, which he didn’t realize until he was examined by an eye doctor in Japan after experiencing vision issues. After being treated, his tour was almost complete. As such, he was sent back to the United States instead of Vietnam, ending his service in March 1970.
When he returned to the States, Garrett said he personally didn’t encounter any public vitriol over the war, but that didn't make it any less real. “When I left the base in my uniform and flew back to Houston, I didn’t encounter any protestors. Nobody spit on me. Nobody called me a baby killer. Nobody did anything,” he said. “I’ve heard stories, and I don’t doubt that they’re true […] I never saw any of that, but that’s not to say it didn’t happen. It just didn’t happen to me.” With his degree in history, Garrett studied many wars, how they started, and how they affected the people who fought in them and those who experienced them as civilians. He discussed how this led him to disagree with the U.S. entering the war, but he still fulfilled his duty to his country.
He said that his experiences in service made it difficult for him to reenter civilian life. He tried to return to school to get a master's degree in history, but he felt forever altered in his perception and way of thinking. In the Spring of 1971, after falling in love with the area during a camping trip to Enchanted Rock, Garrett moved to Austin, Texas. He then pursued a career in art, making posters for Armadillo World Headquarters, Castle Creek, Antone's, and many other historic music venues. In early 2020, he was featured in a documentary called The Poster Boys. In it, he discussed his experience in Vietnam and his art.
To listen to Danny Garret tell his story, click the button below:
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Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.
Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.
The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.
Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.
To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:
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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.
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