Voices that Inspire

What inspires you? From WFSU Public Media, here is this week's Voices That Inspire. John Thrasher, President of Florida State University. I served in the United States Army for a little over four years on active duty, three years in Germany and one year in Vietnam. I was the adjutant of the United States Army Medical Command Vietnam, which had responsibilities for all the medical services in Vietnam when that time I was there. I flew out with the units to a fire base near where our command was. Got in and got out always by helicopter. That was my biggest fear because I actually knew several people who were killed in helicopter while I was over there. There's a dangerous thing, but I shot at a lot. I just had this fear of crashing in a helicopter and somebody having to find my dental records to identify. I mean, that's how you did that, you know, back then. My biggest memory is the day I left, be honest with you. I never will forget flying out of Camron Bay and seeing walking out of the tarmac and seeing that red, white, and blue silver American Airlines plane. I left on the 365th day of my tour. So it was there exactly one year and it was the most spectacular thing I've ever been remembered. I mean, it was just overwhelming to know that I was heading back home. When we touched down, it was a huge, huge yell. I never will forget the exhilaration of it. It was obviously nothing but troops on the plane of the yell that went up when we touched down in Seattle. Amazing, amazing feeling. Discover more Vietnam stories at WFSU.org slash Vietnam. Voices that inspire is produced by WFSU Public Media and partnership with our local community.