David Franklin of Orangeburg has connections to American trauma: the Vietnam War and 9-11. He never forgets either.

In 2015, Franklin was featured in a T&D series profiling Orangeburg-area Vietnam veterans. Then in 2021, he wrote about a unique experience with the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001.

Franklin arrived in Vietnam on his 20th birthday in 1969. Hard days followed. “My main objective was to get out of there.”

He did so in January 1970 after taking on an engineering job and making rank quickly as an E5 squad leader. He said the move saved his life.

Franklin returned home to Orangeburg to embark on a civilian life, working for 16 years with the South Carolina Regional Housing Authority.

Hard days continued back home, with three marriages, a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in 2010 and cancer in 2012 that cost him a kidney. Franklin, now 75, retired in 2013 amid a battle with the Veterans Administration that ultimately saw him get 100% disability in 2016 for post-traumatic stress disorder.

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“We didn’t ask to be sprayed with Agent Orange. I’ve got a lot of friends who are dead now,” he said.

Sept. 11, 2001, came 32 years after his arrival in Vietnam. Franklin’s words from 10 years ago:

“I remember Sept. 11, 2001, well.

“My sister was visiting from New York City and was supposed to return on Sept. 9/10. Before she left, we went to a yard sale and saw a three-piece picture of the World Trade Center that I bought for a dollar, not knowing what was about to happen on that dreadful Tuesday, 9-11.

“I took my sister to the train station that Sunday/Monday to depart for New York. She had worked in the area of the World Trade Center and was to be going to work on that Tuesday, 9-11.

“And then it happened.

“I was watching it from my office. I was devastated because I knew my sister had just returned and had worked in that area. Lord, I was going out of mind, unable to get through to my sister on her cellphone. I was about to go into cardiac arrest.

“I said, ‘Lord let my sister be OK,’ and he did. Making a long story short, by the grace of God, my sister did not go to work that day. She was exhausted and decided to stay home on 9-11. ‘After almost two days, I finally heard from her.

“Today that picture of the World Trade Center hangs in my home office. … Every year, I remember those who lost their lives on that dreadful day of Sept. 11, 2001. Let’s not forget.”

Indeed, on this day, we remember 9-11, those lost on that day, and those lost and having served in conflicts born of the worst-ever attack on American shores – and Americans like Franklin with service to country in the decades before.

As for the future, Franklin says, “I thank the Lord that I’m still here.”

Lee Harter is state editor for Lee Enterprises, parent company of The Times and Democrat. He has been editor of The T&D since 1981.

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