By Clark Judge
(May 14, 2025) — When parade marshal Charlie Smith was reviewing what to expect at this year’s Killingworth Memorial Day celebration, he mentioned the Haddam-Killingworth High School marching band playing the National Anthem and Taps. He also talked about the appearance of V.A. representative Dick Mason, one of three speakers that morning, as well as a military flyover … a lawn of American flags … and an upcoming 100th birthday for former serviceman Andy Kuczma.
What he didn’t mention was that former U.S. Army Captain Bruce Campbell will be there, too. Then again, he didn’t need to. Campbell has been one of the day’s guests for decades. Except this Memorial Day there’s something especially significant about the event. It was 55 years ago this Memorial Day weekend that Campbell, then 26, was dispatched to Vietnam. And it was Memorial Day weekend one year later that he returned.
“That’s a story in itself,” Campbell said the other day.
OK, so let’s hear it. After all, Memorial Day is just around the corner. So Campbell agreed, recalling how he, wife Marilyn and her parents traveled to New Jersey’s McGuire Air Force Base for a sendoff that didn’t happen. The reason: Campbell missed his flight.
“I had to say goodbye twice,” Marilyn said.
It turns out that he was told he’d leave on a plane departing at one o’clock … or 0100 in military speak. One problem: Neither he nor Marilyn were fluent in that language. So they didn’t understand that 0100 meant 1:00 in the morning. You can probably figure out what happened next.
“I didn’t understand military time,” Campbell admitted. “I thought it was 1:00 in the afternoon. So, I thought I could sleep in. When I realized what happened, I was afraid I’d be AWOL.”
Needless to say, he wasn’t. He made the second flight, spent a year in Vietnam and came back one year later. It was an unforgettable experience and not for the right reasons. Campbell recalls his stay in the country’s central highlands as “sorta like Apocalypse Now,” where there was “no running water, no showers and nothing but Agent Orange and snakes.”
When he returned in 1971, he was what he euphemistically termed “a more experienced man.” Years later he would suffer from bipolar disorder and Parkinson’s disease, both of which he and Marilyn believe were triggered by his exposure to Agent Orange. It’s a difficult subject to discuss but hardly a difficult one to understand. Campbell can’t walk without the aid of a rollator or cane. Nor is his experience in Vietnam something he discusses, especially given the reception Vietnam veterans received when they came home.
“Lukewarm,” is all he said.
He didn’t elaborate.
That was more than five decades ago. Today, Bruce Campbell would rather dwell on another reception – one that he and other military vets received earlier this month in Washington, D.C. It made such an impact on him that he freely admits to feeling “transformed,” adding that he expects to feel more comfortable in uniform this Memorial Day than he’s been in … well, since, returning home from overseas.
“I’m high as a kite,” he gushed.
Then credit “Honor Flight Connecticut,” a non-profit that brings veterans of foreign conflicts to Washington for a day. For Bruce Campbell, that day was May 3, 2025 when he and other veterans were flown to the nation’s capital and gained what they did not more than a half-century ago – gratitude and respect for their sacrifices.
Beginning with a gala reception at Bradley Airport covered by WTNH meteorologist and former U.S. Marine Gil Simmons, Campbell joined fifty-five other veterans on a charter flight to Dulles Airport. There, they were met by cheering throngs, then transported inside the beltway to Washington’s national war memorials – with Campbell ferried everywhere in a wheelchair pushed by a “guardian,” Ann Czarnecki of Madison.
“I can’t say enough about the organizers and my guardian,” he said.
He’d left home at 5:30 that morning — this time not missing the flight — and returned at 1:45 a.m. the following day. In between, he was treated as he hadn’t been decades before – with crowds welcoming him and others at Bradley and Dulles with applause, gifts and signs that read “Welcome Home” and “Thank You” — messages that were absent so long ago.
“It was so warm,” said Campbell,” that it brought tears to my eyes.”
He saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He saw the World War II Memorial. He saw Arlington National Cemetery, and reconnected with David Grimes, his close friend from Vanderbilt Law School, in what he called “the highlight” of the trip. Then, upon his return, he and others were given packets of letters that friends, relatives and well-wishers had written as reminders that they had not been forgotten.
“How did that make me feel?” Campbell said. “Euphoric. And I still feel that way.”
“Do you remember the last time you could say that?” he was asked.
“When my Dad bought me a horse,” he answered. “I was in college. This was an experience that was unforgettable. It’s one of the most cherished moments of my life.”
Sitting close by, Marilyn Campbell listens and nods as if she understands. Because she does. She knows what her husband has been through. She lives it … every … single … day. And she, as others, couldn’t help but notice that this Memorial Day there’s something different, something refreshing, something downright joyous about what’s happened to the former U.S. Army officer on his latest return from a faraway destination.
He’s smiling.
“I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time,” she said. “He’s lifted by the kindness of so many people. And he needed that.”
KILLINGWORTH MEMORIAL DAY
When: 9:00 a.m.
Where: The parade begins at Killingworth Elementary School and travels .3 miles south on Route 81 to Killingworth Congregational Church where military veterans – both living and deceased — will be saluted.
Who: The Haddam-Killingworth High School Marching Band will play the National Anthem and Taps. The 7th Grade Poetry Contest winner will be presented. Emma Castiglioni will sing a Patriotic song, prayers will be offered, church bells will be sounded, soldiers’ names will be read and speeches will be made by First Selectman Eric Couture, Dick Mason, Lou Annino Jr. and Matt Albrecht.
Photos by Clark Judge and Ann Czarnecki
