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Canadian crosses border to join U.S. military in Vietnam era

Murray Bradshaw was left with PTSD from his experiences
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Bradshaw says his experiences in Vietnam left him with PTSD and health damage from exposure to Agent Orange. (Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance Times)

Murray Bradshaw is a member of the Aldergrove branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, a veteran, and he takes Remembrance Day seriously.

But unlike many of the other legion members, the Abbotsford resident spent most of his service wearing an American uniform. He’s one of the thousands of Canadians who served in the American armed forces during the Vietnam War.

Growing up with a father in the RCAF, Bradshaw spent much of his childhood in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He initially joined the Canadian military while still in his teens – with his parents permission – but when after his father left the air force and got a job in the United States, Bradshaw enlisted south of the 49th parallel.

The choice was about the different opportunities in the different militaries at the time, he said.

“A chance for advancement, and places to go,” was what made up his mind.

Bradshaw saw the Canadian Army as having old, Korean War-era equipment, and the only places Canadian soldiers deployed overseas were Germany and Cyprus.

“Everything Uncle Sam had was brand new,” he said.

He was 17 when he joined up, and found himself in the armoured cavalry. That meant tanks, armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and other heavy vehicles.

But because it was the late 1960s, it wasn’t too long before Bradshaw found himself being moved from training in Hawaii to Vietnam. He said he really didn’t have any inkling of what that would mean.

Technically, as a Canadian, he said he could have refused to deploy. But he wanted to go with his friends in his unit.

He served in E Troop and C Troop, 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment.

Technically, he was an “armoured intelligence specialist,” which meant he spent his days inside a tank and his nights “sneaking around,” he said. Armoured vehicles weren’t that great for reconnaissance.

He had arrived in late 1967. A month later, the Tet Offensive, launched by the forces of North Vietnam, began.

“It was pretty mundane, until the s—t started hitting the fan and people started getting killed, and then it wasn’t fun no more,” Bradshaw said.

He was shocked that some of the combatants were women and even children. He’d been trained for a war against adult men wearing uniforms.

“We weren’t trained to shoot kids in the head,” Bradshaw said.

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Instead, he feared attack from almost anyone. Battles were often an exchange of gunfire with someone in a distant line of trees. When he and his unit went to check out who had been shooting at them later, they’d find nothing at all, not even a shell casing to show someone had been there.

His unit also took part in house-to-house fighting in urban areas, which was strange for a soldier in a tank.

“They can be anywhere, and you’re only going down the road,” Bradshaw said.

He was also on the fringes of one of the most notorious incidents during the war. Bradshaw’s armoured unit was part of the force sent to the village of My Lai, where infantry massacred several hundred people.

Bradshaw was 500 meters away from the edge of the village, where his armoured mortar truck was ready to provide support. He said the infantry destroyed the village, “and we all got medals and pats on the back.”

Later, it would be revealed that soldiers in the villages had indiscriminately killed between 350 and 500 unarmed men, women, and children. Only one officer would ever be charged and convicted related to the massacre.

Bradshaw served in Vietnam for a year and then returned to the United States, where he lived for much of the next few decades.

He did not know how to deal with what he had experienced for a long time.

“I lost quite a few friends over there,” Bradshaw said, wiping away sudden tears. “Some great brothers.”

His service, and seeing friends killed, left him with what he would only years later recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“Back then, you were just a f——ed up vet,” he said. PTSD wasn’t a commonly used term.

But looking back, he realizes that his life was chaotic.

Over 30 years, he had 34 jobs, lived in four states, and was married twice.

When he finally heard of PTSD, he realized the symptoms applied to him. He would spend years seeking treatment.

He was also exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, a toxic defoliant that was used to kill trees.

Bradshaw attributes that exposure to the massive heart attack he had in 2001.

“I lost the bottom third of my heart.”

After returning to Canada, first to Winnipeg, and then a few years later to Abbotsford to be close to family, he quickly joined the Aldergrove legion.

Remembrance Day is important to him. He also honours Memorial Day every year, the U.S. holiday dedicated to mourning fallen soldiers.

“Just like I’ve got two Thanksgivings,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said he went to Vietnam because of his friends, and the military told him it was about saving democracy from Communism.

But he believes now it was about allowing oil companies to drill and tire companies to grow rubber plantations.

He said he’s willing to speak about his experiences because he wants people to understand there are other ways to solve things without war.


Have a story tip? Email: matthew.claxton@langleyadvancetimes.com
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Bradshaw with his medals. (Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance Times)
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Bradshaw shortly after returning from Vietnam. (Murray Bradshaw/Special to the Langley Advance Times)
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Murray Bradshaw was a young man when he chose to enlist in the U.S. armed forces. He found himself in an armoured cavalry unit – a tank unit – in Vietnam. (Murray Bradshaw/Special to the Langley Advance Times)
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Murray Bradshaw, wore a Metis sash with his medals. The Canadian, who served with the U.S. in Vietnam, was among 36 who attended a pre-Remembrance Day dinner at the Aldergrove branch on Sunday, Oct. 30. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)


Matthew Claxton

About the Author: Matthew Claxton

Raised in Langley, as a journalist today I focus on local politics, crime and homelessness.
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