Haggerty had just graduated from Cathedral High School in El Paso in 1967.

"You either went to college or you went to Vietnam, those were your options back in those days," said Haggerty. After six weeks of summer school, he tried to make some money. "I got a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken. I got drafted. And less than a year later, I was in Vietnam."

After that year with the signal corps, he was given an option.

"They said, 'If you go back for another tour, we'll drop six months off your enlistment,' so 'Sign me up,'" he said.

Haggerty, between the army and civilian work, spent much of the late 1960s and early 1970s in Vietnam.

"I was in Vietnam in '68, '69, '70, '71 and '72," Haggerty told KFOX.

Haggerty finally returned to the U.S. only to not be able to find work. He spent six months in the Naval reserve, followed by full active duty with the Marines.

But he'll never forget the reception he received after that first tour, and the perception by other Americans of the war and soldiers like him.

"I do remember coming back from Nam the first time, I landed in Seattle, and thought all those people over there were yelling and cheering at us, and I thought, 'How cool is that?' And they were throwing stuff at us and calling us baby killers," he said.

On this Memorial Day weekend, Haggerty said he is glad to be a veteran.

"Now it's like you can be proud again to be a Vietnam vet, proud to have served and everything else," said Haggerty.

And when he reflects on this weekend, he thinks about what so many other vets from so many other wars think about.

"I served with a lot of good people who didn't come back, and of course they're the ones that are the heroes," said Haggerty.

Haggerty said he is very proud of the young men and women who are serving our country now, and he believed they are doing a terrific job keeping Americans out of harms way.