Vietnam Veteran Thomas Carroll Fought Two Fights: One Overseas, One at Home
November 6, 2024
Vietnam veteran Thomas Carroll faced two fights: one for his country and one for civil rights. Serving during this era, he grappled with fighting for freedoms abroad while freedom wasn’t fully available at home. Like many Black service members, his experience included resisting injustices that followed him and the Black community at large. Carroll enlisted in the Navy in 1964, studying avionics and aviation firefighting in Memphis, Tennessee. Traveling with a White-passing Navy recruit revealed the contrast in treatment. “We took a cab to the YMCA. They gave him a room, but told me they didn’t have any,” recalls