--- title: A Vietnam Veteran Returns Home: A LIFE Magazine Classic description: Profile of a 21-year-old Vietnam veteran facing the doubts, the anger, the longing for normalcy endured by countless vets through the years. canonical: https://time.com/3880879/a-vietnam-veteran-comes-home-classic-photos/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-09T20:28:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:37.086Z og:title: A Vietnam Veteran Returns Home: A LIFE Magazine Classic og:description: Profile of a 21-year-old Vietnam veteran facing the doubts, the anger, the longing for normalcy endured by countless vets through the years. og:url: https://time.com/3880879/a-vietnam-veteran-comes-home-classic-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt173f99711dd365a3/69884c74cd1bba8a8c6faf48/140905-vietnam-vet-131.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Vietnam Veteran Mike Ball og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Vietnam Veteran Returns Home: A LIFE Magazine Classic twitter:description: Profile of a 21-year-old Vietnam veteran facing the doubts, the anger, the longing for normalcy endured by countless vets through the years. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt173f99711dd365a3/69884c74cd1bba8a8c6faf48/140905-vietnam-vet-131.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # In Limbo Between War and Peace: A Vietnam Veteran Comes Home by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 9, 2014 8:28 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. "Mike talks with Shirley Lyvere, whom he had once dated. His father invited her to the airport to help welcome Mike." 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 by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 9, 2014 8:28 PM UTC How a country treats it [war veterans ](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/09/va-scandal-phoenix-inspector-general-urology/15333657/)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: --- > “” --- 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. [\[MORE: “Faces of the American Dead in Vietnam: One Week’s Toll, June 1969”\]](http://life.time.com/history/faces-of-the-american-dead-in-vietnam-life-magazine-june-1969/#1) [\[MORE: “LIFE Behind the Picture: ‘Reaching Out,’ Vietnam, 1966”\]](http://life.time.com/history/vietnam-war-the-story-behind-larry-burrows-1966-photo-reaching-out/#1) ---  LIFE photographer John Olson (right) and Sgt. Mike Ball in Vietnam, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ---  Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  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  "Fighting dust on a helicopter pad . . ." John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  "Checking NVA dead . . ." John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, Vietnam, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  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  Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, returning home from Vietnam, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Sgt. Mike Ball, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  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  Sgt. Mike Ball, returns home from Vietnam, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  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  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  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  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  Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball in his Midland, Mich., apartment, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball playing pool, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball searches for a job. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  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  Not published in LIFE. Mike Ball searching for a job, 1970. John Olson—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  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." 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