Reflections of
VIE TNAM
H onorin g o u r Loca l V eterans
Photo by Harry Gerwien
Ja mes Pearson smiled across the table at his wife
of 45 years, Deborah. He’s not as talkative as she is, but smiled when she jumps up to get his two purple hearts to show me and told me how it took 32 years to receive one of them. Pearson was drafted into the Army in 1968, but chose to enlist in the Marines because he did not want to serve in the Army. He was what was called a “90-day wonder,” in and out of boot camp in 90 days and off to Vietnam. He served as a [machine gunner] who was responsible for laying down a field of fire so other Soldiers could get to their targets or get to safety. After spending 13 months and 11 days in Vietnam, Pearson has scars stretching from his thigh to his chest and shrapnel still inside him. “You can see all the white spots when they do x-rays,” he said with a smirk. He doesn’t like to talk about the circumstances surrounding his purple hearts. In one instance, he was thought dead by the Marines, who notified his mother that her only son had been killed in action. In fact, he was in the hospital in Vietnam having come under fire as he was trying to board the plane that would take him home. After he woke up there, he was sent to Japan for further recovery and eventually made his way back home. Once home, he married Deborah, who he had known since she was 1 and he was 5. After being discharged, the two moved up and down the East Coast living in New Jersey, South Carolina and Florida, before eventually settling in Virginia. He worked as a mechanic TOP PHOTO: James Pearson’s official enlistment and, when he realized portrait. Deborah didn’t like him BOTTOM PHOTO: Certificates for the two Purple Hearts coming home “all greasy,” Pearson received during his tour in Vietnam. a carpenter. For a few years, the two lived in an abandoned home being unable to afford anywhere else. James dug a trench and installed a pipe so they could have running water and hooked up a small TV to a car battery so Deborah could watch TV. “That was love,” she said as she smiled at her husband. Family was always important to James and Deborah; they moved to Hampton Roads to be closer to James’ mother, but they struggled to have a family of their own. They saved enough to go through fertility treatments to have the daughter they now refer to as their “miracle child.” She is now a nurse in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Pearson’s family has grown to include four grandchildren and one great grand-child, whose pictures they proudly display in their living room. When asked about why she sought to have James profiled, Deborah didn’t hesitate. “I wanted to do something to show how proud I am of his service,” Deborah said. “He’s my hero.”
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