“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”
Those words, spoken by Winston Churchill and paraphrased later by President Ronald Reagan, sum up veteran Harley James’ journey from the jungles of Vietnam to drug and alcohol addiction to a retiree who now describes his life as, in a word, “lucky.”
“I have been lucky,” the 73-year-old said. “The good Lord has watched out for me my whole life.”
When James returned to Ohio after his tour in Vietnam, he brought back a relapse of malaria as well as exposure to the numbing effects of marijuana and alcohol. He struggled with PTSD and found himself on a downward spiral.
All that changed in 1975 when his wife at the time brought home a pony. Shortly after, James joined the Rushsylvania Rough Riders.
“Thank God I eventually got introduced to the equine world,” James said. “I raised, trained and competed on quarter horses for the next 40 years.”
He credits this involvement as having the greatest impact toward healing from the PTSD and getting him on the right path.
Next Saturday, March 26, James—specialist 4th class, U.S. Army—will be recognized for his military service at the ninth annual Logan County Vietnam War Veterans Day ceremony, which coincides with the National Vietnam Veterans Day (March 29).
The ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. on the north side of the Logan County Courthouse, which was dedicated as Veterans Plaza in 2021. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved to April 2.
For James, everything changed when he was drafted on May 10, 1968. He and about 20 other area boys were loaded onto a bus in front of what was then the library on Main Street in Bellefontaine. In 1968, the library sat next to the tiny building that housed the draft board.
After being sworn in at Fort Hayes in Columbus, the draftees were sent to basic training— eight weeks at Fort Jackson, S.C., followed by another eight weeks in Oklahoma.
“They had a total of 16 weeks to take a bunch of 19-year-olds off the streets and get you ready to go to war,” James said. His tour lasted a year.
It’s clear James’ memories of Vietnam are still painful. As a member of the 11th armored cavalry, he spent his time there in a 155-millimeter, self-propelled howitzer. He believes the fact he mostly rode in that vehicle protected him from Agent Orange, which took the lives of five of his good friends.
Throughout his time there, the first sergeant would bring the soldiers postcards for writing home. In the beginning, he wrote “sob letters” expressing how badly he wanted to leave. Then he, like many other soldiers, got turned onto marijuana and the letters became more accepting of the situation. “I’m fine. Don’t worry,” he would write in an attempt to send some kind of correspondence.
“You didn’t know how long it would be until you could go back to the world,” James said. “It really was a living hell. The airplane ride home was called the Freedom Bird.”
When he finally returned to Bellefontaine — after spending a month recovering from a relapse of malaria at the Wright-Patterson AFB hospital — James worked for the United Telephone Company until he retired at the age of 55. He then sold horse feed at King Feed & Supply for 10 years.
Today, James receives 100 percent disability and full insurance from Veterans Affairs and relishes his status as TDIU—Total Disability Individual Unemployability or, as James put it, “totally disabled and unemployable.”
The father of two grown sons, James enjoys marriage to his second wife, Kimberly, and spending each January and February basking in the sun at a different kind of “fort”—Fort Myers, Fla.
In conclusion, James once again emphasized the healing powers of equine therapy—especially as it relates to mental health — saying, “It’s one of the best therapies for PTSD.”
During next Saturday’s ceremony, a flag that has flown over the nation’s Capitol building, the Ohio Statehouse and the Logan County courthouse will be lowered, folded and presented to Specialist James by Jon Mikil Kilgore, last year’s recipient. Ceremony participants are members of the Harold Kerr Post #173 of the American Legion in Bellefontaine.
Area residents are welcome to attend.