There are heroes among us: Sonny Bourff of the U-S Army
By Jim Freeman
CAMPBELL COUNTY, TN (WLAF)- What was the first thing you did when you made it back to the states from the Vietnam War? “I kissed the ground in Oakland, California,” said U-S Army Sergeant Sonny Bourff.
TOP PHOTO: Vietnam veteran Sgt. Sonny Bourff on a visit to WLAF.
On this Veterans Day and his 79th birthday, Sarge has allowed WLAF to honor him with a story.
It was on Veterans Day 1947 when Bourff was delivered by a mid-wife at home. Home in those days was just across the Tennessee state line in Georgia. After six months, his parents, Roma and Nora Bourff, moved to La Follette.
Bourff graduated 8th grade at Coolidge School and left for Cincinnati where he was able to stay with family. “I had a job by 16 and was drafted just a few years later on Nov. 21, 1967,” said Bourff
Basic training was at Fort Benning, Georgia, followed by artillery training on the 155mm Howitzer cannon at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and from there, it was on to the Vietnam War. “I was in Vietnam a year and a day beginning when I arrived at Long Bình Post, Vietnam, on May 5, 1968,” said the sergeant.
His primary duty was to switch the transportation and haul ammo to the front line of the jungle. “I’d go two weeks in the jungle at a time, and there wasn’t much sleeping. Instead of going to sleep, I’d just stand up beside my truck armed with a 50-caliber machine gun.
On November 5, 1968, Bourff made sergeant. He received six medals, and he is most proud of his Bronze Star.
“It means a lot being on Veterans Day,” said Bourff about his birthday falling on November 11. He’s undecided on just how he’ll celebrate number 79.
“I didn’t want to go. Don’t know anybody who did, but we went to protect our country. I went for my mom and dad, because the way they raised me, I’m proud of ’em,” said the sergeant.
Bourff didn’t get as much as a scratch. “But I sure came close,” said the sarge.
At six-feet tall, Bourff arrived in ‘Nam at 220 pounds finishing his tour of duty at a slim 155. “When my family greeted me coming home, they didn’t hug me right away, because they didn’t recognize me. My brown hair was bleached blonde. I rarely wore my helmet, and my hair turned white,” said Bourff.
The magazine Stars and Stripes arrived about once a month during his year in the war. That’s where he first saw a Plymouth Road Runner. He bought a new 1969 Road Runner, brown, after his time of service concluded.
He finished his stint in the Army at Fort Sill and was discharged on November 22, 1969. He spent the next 21-years behind the wheel of a big rig working out of Cincinnati before finally returning to Campbell County in July 1983.
“It was bad times over there. You didn’t know if you were a boy or a man when you arrived, but you came back a hero. And you thank God that you came home OK,” said Sergeant Sonny Boruff.
Thank you for your service, Sgt. Bourff. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/11/2026-6AM)
