Vietnam veteran, nurse set to be honored
A Vietnam War veteran was so inspired by classic military movies he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Those movies also inspired former Sgt. Thomas Bain of Rensselaer to be the best possible Marine.
Bain was such an exemplary Marine he was selected to become the newest inductee into the Rev. Francis A. Kelley Military Society. Saint Joseph Church of Troy sponsors the society. A society committee picked Bain to receive a Rensselaer County Home Town Hero Award and be inducted in the society on the basis of his military and community service, said John Mullen, society co-chairman.
Deborah Koivula, a registered nurse who works as the outreach coordinator for the Statewide Peer Assistance for Nurses program in New York state in Albany, will receive the society’s Walter F. Larson Crystal for Excellence in Nursing Care.
The awards will be presented during an annual appreciation dinner Friday at Moscatiello’s Italian Family Restaurant at 99 North Greenbush Road (Route 4), Troy. Dinner is at 7 p.m. For information, contact John Mullen at (518) 272-2360.
The society commemorates Kelley of Cohoes, a World War I veteran, Army chaplain and recipient of a Distinguished Service Cross, who advocated for veterans upon his return to the Capital Region.
Bain said he was impressed and motivated by patriot films such “Sands of Iwo Jima” starring John Wayne, “To Hell and Back” starring Audie Murphy,” “Away all Boats” starring Jeff Chandler and “Attack” starring Jack Palance. He enlisted on March 28, 1963.
“My strongest memories of these films were at the conclusion of each movie, the audience would applaud and cheer loudly during a standing ovation,” he said.
After he graduated from Basic at Parris Island, S.C. and infantry training at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. He underwent extensive guerrilla warfare tactics training. He completed cold weather training at Camp Fuji, Japan.
After he was reassigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines at Pendleton he and eight other Marines signed waivers of liability volunteering for combat duty in South Vietnam. “We called ourselves the Nutty Nine,” Bain said.
The “Nutty Nine” was sent to Okinawa and the Philippines for jungle training. A short time later, Bain and his fellow Marines did an amphibious assault from the attack transport USS Revere onto a beach in Vietnam.
“I immediately became aware of Viet Cong punji stakes on the beach,” he recalled. That was the start of their numerous search and destroy missions.
During many Viet Cong ambushes, he said, he became aware the sound of crack, crack from enemy AK-47 rifles.
After the Marines searched a Vietnamese village south of Da Nang they were ambushed by the Viet Cong as the Marines crossed an open rice paddy. The enemy fire came from a nearby village. Bain received his first wound; he was shot in his right leg. He was medevaced by helicopter to a field medical station in Chui Chi and then sent to Clark Air Force Base, Philippines, for medical care.
After a short stay in a hospital in Japan, he returned to Vietnam. Six days later during a patrol, he was wounded again when an explosive device was tripped. Shrapnel struck him in the lower back and right side. He was hospitalized on the USS Repose.
After further medical care at hospital at Clark Air Force Base, Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco and Queens he finished his military duty at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.
He earned a Combat Action Ribbon, a Presidential Unit Citation, Marine Good Conduct Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, a Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm, New York State Conspicuous Service Cross, New York State Medal of Merit and New York State Conspicuous Service Star.
After the war, he was the grand marshal of the 1967 Watervliet Arsenal Memorial Day Parade. He worked for the Ford Motor Co. for 12 years in Green Island and the Watervliet Arsenal for 26 years before retirement. He helped coach baseball and soccer teams.
Koivula is an advocate for nurses personally impacted by addiction and supports their personal as well as professional recovery. Koivula assists nurses in navigating the complexities of licensure, legal consequence, treatment and employment related issues while also protecting public safety interests.
Through her compassionate approach, she helps nurses improve their professional practice management through integration of recovery planning, prioritizing self-care, and establishing a peer network.