SAXONBURG — Tom Foor told Lauren Lemmon's ninth-grade history classes stories about the year he spent in the Army's First Cavalry Division during the Vietnam War.

In a live FaceTime chat Thursday from his home in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, Foor spent an hour speaking with each of Lemmon's five classes about combat, life in war-torn Vietnam and his journey home.

It was an experience he volunteered for.

Foor said he grew up in Bedford County and a friend on the draft board told him he was going to be drafted into military service in March 1969.

“I decided to go in early,” Foor said.

He was 19 when he signed up for a two-year enlistment in June 1968 and, after basic training, he was sent to Fort Lewis in Washington for artillery training.

He found some soldiers there couldn't read. Others had reactions to the daily regimen of malaria pills and were not sent to Vietnam, Foor said. Three draftees who fled to Canada asked if he wanted to join them before they left, but he said he wanted to finish what he started.

“I said, 'Absolutely not. I signed up for this. I'm going to see it through,'” Foor said.

He was assigned to an artillery unit which, along with its 105 mm howitzer cannons, was taken into battle by helicopters.

“We supported the infantry. Our job was to cover them and kill any enemy around them,” Foor said.

Six men in his unit were killed during his year in Vietnam, he said.

Their roles were reversed at the base where the infantry protected the artillery unit, but the soldiers couldn't stop enemy mortars from hitting the camp day and night.

“We got mortared a lot,” Foor said. “I was wounded by a mortar.”

He was struck in his neck, chest and left leg. His injuries would have been worse or even fatal if he hadn't been wearing a protective flak jacket.

“It did save my life,” Foor said.

He spent a week in a hospital before going to a rehabilitation center where he met the late actor and Pennsylvania native Jimmy Stewart, who was visiting injured soldiers. He told Stewart he was also from Pennsylvania and they struck up a conversation.

Before being sent back to the bush in Vietnam, Foor was awarded a Purple Heart, which he mailed home to his mother in a letter.

He learned later that his mother dropped the letter when she opened the envelope and all she found was the medal. She didn't know what the medal was for so she asked a local World War II veteran who told her it was awarded to service members injured or killed in action.

She eventually found the letter and realized her son had been injured, but was alive.

Care packages from home lifted spirits and the military tried to provide comfort by including chocolate, toilet paper and cigarettes in the C-rations soldiers ate most of the time.

“It was crazy. They were just throwing the cigarettes at you,” Foor said.

A delivery of ice cream had everybody hoping for a cool treat in the 100-degree, humid weather they endured.

“It was the worst tasting stuff I ever ate. God bless them they did try,” Foor said.

The “putrid” ice cream was put to good use. The men put it in a container and used it to cool their aching feet.

“It felt good,” he said.

The base adopted a stray female dog. The dog got pregnant and when the soldiers found her about to give birth, they put the dog in a helicopter and took her to a safe area.

Snakes were common and, during the monsoon season, soldiers found themselves covered with leeches. Monsoons didn't take sides in the war and affected the enemy too.

“It slowed them down too. We didn't get hit that much,” Foor said.

Agent Orange also wreaked havoc on both sides.

Foor said soldiers knew the defoliant was dangerous because of how effectively it killed the dense vegetation that provided cover for enemy fighters.

Two of his buddies died from cancer caused by Agent Orange and it caused birth defects among Vietnamese people, he said.

“It was a tragic part of the war,” Foor said.

On Thanksgiving 1969, Foor said he got his orders to return home.

The bus wrecked on the way to the airfield. Foor said he and the other departing soldiers had already turned in their weapons and had no way to defend themselves.

“We thought we were going to get ambushed,” Foor said.

Another bus came and took them to meet the “Freedom Bird,” which was a Pan Am jetliner. They boarded after pale looking replacement soldiers with clean uniforms got off.

The atmosphere in the plane on they way to Oakland, Calif., was “pure joy,” he said.

After they showered and were given clean uniforms, the soldiers were on a bus leaving the airport when they saw an anti-war protest at the exit. Protesters were throwing rocks and bottles, Foor said.

The bus left through a back gate to avoid the protest. Taxis took the soldiers to an airport in San Francisco where they boarded a plane for Los Angeles.

Members of the rock band The Byrds, who were in the first-class section, learned the soldiers were on board and paid for their drinks, he said.

On Dec. 4, 1969, he landed at Pittsburgh International Airport.

He was unaccustomed, but indifferent, to the cold weather.

“It didn't matter. It felt good,” Foor said.

Responding to a student's question, Foor said he wasn't harmed by Agent Orange, but “jungle rot” from wet feet took a toll.

“Part of my little toe was eaten off,” Foor said.

He said he had some nightmares, but didn't have a big problem with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I just thought it was part of the deal,” Foor said.

Lemmon said Vietnam War history is taught in 11th grade, but thought it was important for her ninth-grade students to know how people risked their lives for this country and were not welcomed when they returned home.

Many Vietnam veterans won't talk about the war because of the receptions they received, she said.

Her late grandfather served on the USS Hancock aircraft carrier in World War II.

“He talked about his experiences all the time” Lemmon said.

Understanding the sacrifices of soldiers helps students become responsible citizens, she said.

“I tell the kids to thank veterans for their service. That's why we have the freedom we have today,” Lemmon said.