Vietnam veteran Terry Gnora enjoyed serving his country

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

Some men who were drafted and sent to Vietnam in the late 1960s enjoyed their time serving their country — Terry Gnora of Donora is one of them.

Gnora is the commander of American Legion Post 212 in Donora, joining after he was discharged following his service all those years ago.

Gnora was drafted into the Army in 1967 and left for basic training in Fort Jackson, S.C. 

He left at the same time as two other Mon Valley residents — Jim Giffin of Allenport and Skip Gobel of McKeesport.

The men soon learned that if they signed up for one extra year of service, they could attend school after basic training and have some control over where they were sent afterward.

Giffin went to helicopter school, Gobel learned how to be a cook and Gnora went to study to become a supply specialist in Fort Lee, Va., and then went on to repair parts school.

Gnora said a dozen students from his first class were chosen to go to repair parts school and those students who remained were all sent to serve in Korea. 

All the students he moved on with were sent to Vietnam, though they didn’t stay together.

He left Oakland, Calif., on Mother’s Day 1968 to go to Vietnam and was stationed in Quy Nhon, where he worked as a supply specialist in the U.S. Army Depot Long My.

“Oh, it was different,” Gnora said of Vietnam. “It was either hot and dry or hot and wet. We worked right with the Vietnamese civilians and they worked right with us. There were a lot of good people.”

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