LUTCHER — Ronald Clark spent Saturday in Washington, D.C., reflecting on a journey that began when he was drafted out of college and sent to Vietnam more than 50 years ago.

Clark served 10 months in the Vietnam War in 1971 after being drafted while attending Southern University. He was studying to become a school teacher when he received the notification in the mail.

"Vietnam was going on, so drafting people. I was one of the unlucky ones," Clark said. "I didn't know anything about leaving Louisiana, going somewhere else, you know? Just a country boy."

Clark went through basic and advanced training in Louisiana and Texas before being sent to a field near Saigon in Vietnam. He was assigned to an artillery unit in what he called a jungle camp with four guns.

"Basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, then AIT, something beyond basic training, then put in artillery, the guns, and went to Fort Hood and then Vietnam," Clark said.

Clark said he called the area he was at “The Jungle Camp.” He was in the wilderness, manning four guns.

"The gun I was on shot 10 miles, two guns shot about 10 miles, and two big guns shot 15 to 20 miles out,” he said. “I didn’t actually see anybody get killed, but we did shoot.”

Clark said  he was scared, but the fear subsided over time. 

"When I first went over, I was fearful, but after a while, survival was the thing," said Clark.

The Vietnam Wall Memorial contains more than 58,000 names of veterans who did not make it.

Clark said returning home from war was not what he expected.

"People didn't treat you like a hero. I thought I was a hero at the time, but they didn't treat you like you did something for the country," said Clark.

He told WBRZ that working through what he experienced at war was very difficult.

Clark went through years of treatment for post-traumatic stress syndrome and fought through prostate cancer.

On the flight back to Baton Rouge, each veteran received handwritten letters from family, friends and well-wishers thanking them for their service.

For Clark, Honor Flight Louisiana was a life-changing and healing experience long overdue.

To find more information about Honor Flight, click here.