• LIFE

In Limbo Between War and Peace: A Vietnam Veteran Comes Home

3 minute read

How a country treats it war veterans says a lot about its values. Not the values it purports to cherish, but those it actually holds. Whether one comes from a family where fathers, son, mothers and daughters have always served, or from one that hasn’t seen a member in uniform for generations, most of us believe that when a nation sends its young people off to war, they deserve recognition and, more importantly, help—psychological, medical, financial, whatever it takes to make sure they’re whole—when they come home.

In the spring of 1971, LIFE magazine published a remarkable story, “A Veteran Comes Home—to Limbo,” written by Colin Leinster and featuring photographs by John Olson, who made some of the most indelible pictures from Vietnam. Focusing on one particular vet, 21-year-old Michael Ball from Midland, Mich., the article and photos captured the singular troubles faced by countless veterans, then and now, returning from war: the doubts; the troubled sleep; the anger; the longing for normalcy.

As Leinster wrote in the April 16, 1971, issue of LIFE:

We’re back in the world. No more heat or red dust or sodden patties. No more incoming to spatter you around like paint, no more snipers. No more silent jungles or quiet dead, no more clattering choppers or friends moaning and you too busy to help. No more barracks-room boredom with thumbed letters and magazines you know backwards . . . No more dawns over mountains that scare you. Most of all, better believe it, no more Vietnam. We’re out.

Last year some half-million GIs came home from Vietnam. This year another 200,000 are expected to return. The lucky ones come back with two arms, two legs, genitalia intact, alive. But that’s it, no more parades. The Calley case sealed America’s dismay over Vietnam. Still, veterans of this war had already learned not to expect any band music. Even before they got back they knew the rule; don’t talk about it. Don’t volunteer to a pretty girl that you served in Vietnam. Don’t expect anybody to give you a job just because you are a vet. . . . You survived, so forget it.

Twenty-one-year-old Michael Ball is one of those who came back. Returning to his hometown of Midland, Mich., he finds himself caught in a limbo between war and peace. He cannot find a job. He’s alone, but he doesn’t know why. His Bronze Star lies in a tin box in his parents’ home.

In Vietnam, Ball was a staff sergeant with Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Regiment, First Cavalry Division (“the proud Air Cav”). He led a mortar platoon that saw action in both Vietnam and Cambodia. The whole time he was away from home, he was “shoving away the present and dreaming of sensible trees and fields and weather, of his mother’s new kitchen, of girls who speak English. . . .”

As the article and the pictures here—most of which never ran in LIFE—remind us, there are many types of homecomings. More often than we’d like, they fall short of what we hope and imagine they’ll be.

[MORE: “Faces of the American Dead in Vietnam: One Week’s Toll, June 1969”]

[MORE: “LIFE Behind the Picture: ‘Reaching Out,’ Vietnam, 1966”]


LIFE photographer John Olson (right) and Sgt. Mike Ball in Vietnam, 1971.
LIFE photographer John Olson (right) and Sgt. Mike Ball in Vietnam, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, circa 1970.
Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Mike Ball, 1970
Caption from LIFE. "Right to the end of his Vietnam duty, Sgt. Mike Ball was in the field, sweating out a patrol."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Mike Ball, 1970
"Fighting dust on a helicopter pad . . ."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Mike Ball, 1970
"Checking NVA dead . . ."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, circa 1970.
Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, circa 1970.
Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Caption from LIFE. "After a 17-hour flight home from Vietnam, Ball (fist raised) and other GIs happily wait to go through customs at Seattle."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Sgt. Mike Ball, returning home from Vietnam, 1970.
Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, returning home from Vietnam, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Sgt. Mike Ball, returning home from Vietnam, 1970.
Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, returning home from Vietnam, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Family waiting for Sgt. Mike Ball, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Sgt. Mike Ball, returns home from Vietnam, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Caption from LIFE. "Mike talks with Shirley Lyvere, whom he had once dated. His father invited her to the airport to help welcome Mike."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Caption from LIFE. "A welcoming sign greeted Mike Ball (waving) and his brother-in-law [who returned from Vietnam on the same day]. The party began in the yard, then moved inside and went on most of the night."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Caption from LIFE. "When Mike Ball went off to Vietnam, his kid brother Rick was only 13. Now, in a measuring match on the day of Mike's return, Rick proves he has done some growing up."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Caption from LIFE. "Mike stretched out for a nap and his parents let him sleep."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Caption from LIFE. "Though Mike was not getting on well with his father when he joined the Army, their letters brought them closer. Even so, by the day after Mike's return, they had run out of things to say and could only embrace awkwardly."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Caption from LIFE. "With other Vietnam veterans, plus some from World War II, Ball is initiated into his father's VFW post. The post membership of 100 includes about 15 men of Ball's age."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Caption from LIFE. "As a student at Delta Community College in Bay City, Ball keeps to himself, but enjoys social studies debates. He finds most student attitudes about Vietnam naive."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Caption from LIFE. "In the Midland apartment that he now shares with two friends, Mike entertains a pair of bubbling visitors."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Caption from LIFE. "At a mirror decorated with his battered Army hat, he gets ready to go out on a date."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball in his Midland, Mich., apartment, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball playing pool, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball searches for a job.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Caption from LIFE. "On his twentieth attempt in 10 days to find work, he tries an auto plant -- and strikes out again."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball searching for a job, 1970.John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Vietnam veteran Mike Ball, 1970
Caption from LIFE. "At dusk, Mike cruises along Midland's main drag in the car he dreamed about in Vietnam. But car payments, insurance and gas, added to other expenses, have eaten up his savings, and he is having problems finding a part-time job."John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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