Page 54 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2020- Online Magazine
P. 54
Donnie White
A Family Legacy and a
Purple Heart
by Jane Bromley
San Diego. After eight weeks, the hit. My eardrum had been blown
other three were sent to infantry out, and I didn’t even know I was
training, but a bookkeeping error hollering.” The young private had
held Donnie back. Because of that, lasted a little more than 15 minutes
he got to choose his MOS, and he before his first injury. He was sent
signed up for artillery. “A crusty to the Battalion Aid Station to get
old WWII veteran/ warrant officer his knee and the back of his head
said, ‘Son, they’ll send you straight stitched up.
to combat. You won’t last 15
minutes.’ I stuck with my choice.” “Before being sent back to my unit,
they assigned me to perimeter
He was in the middle of training guard. That was scary, too – out
at Camp Pendleton on Jan. 30, there in the dark, in the trench.”
1968, when the Tet Offensive took Not only was this duty part of the
place. The huge North Vietnamese field training he had missed at
assault on 100 South Vietnamese Camp Pendleton, but his hearing
cities and allied bases caused the was badly compromised.
y dad was hard-working U.S. military to scramble. Donnie’s “They had a ceremony to present
and quiet. The only unit was told they’d have to finish
Mspanking I ever got their training in the field, and they my Purple Heart, but it was pretty
scary. There was lots of incoming,
from him was for burning down were part of a huge deployment of and we all had to stand at attention
the outhouse. My parents were reinforcements. anyway. When the presenting
" real good people. Mama was the “I arrived at Da Nang in I Corps officer read my name, Private
disciplinarian. Me and my twin near the DMZ (demilitarized Donnie White, he asked, ‘Why is
brother Lonnie was #6 and #7. By zone) as part of the 3rd Marine this man still a private? I want him
the time we came around, she was Division, 12th Marine Regiment. promoted TODAY.’ I became PFC
about outta patience. They worked [Donnie’s oldest brother] Auzie, White right then.
hard, and they worked us hard. had been 1st Sgt. of the battery
Maybe we all joined the military I was assigned to. He left just “All of the DMZ was pretty active.
because we thought it sounded before I got there. The unit had In April 1968, we moved to The
easier.” Rockpile close to Khe Sanh, a hotly
49-ton 8” Howitzers mounted on
All six of the White brothers served self-propelled chassis – some of contested South Vietnamese post. It
was not a fun place. You could get
in the military. Auzie, Charley, the biggest guns in operation.” killed anywhere, but that was an
Mackey and twins Lonnie and Donnie was sent immediately to especially dangerous place. Donnie
Donnie were Marines. Mackey’s Dong Ha and assigned to shuttle received six campaign ribbons on
twin brother Jackey was Army. ammo to the front. On Feb. 11, his Vietnam Campaign Ribbon.
(His story precedes this one.) Their 1968, he was running ammo to [Because of the artillery unit’s big
sister Sue worked for over two Bravo Platoon. While he and his guns], we fired for everybody.”
decades at Reese Air Force Base. radio man were standing on the
bed of the truck, a rocket hit it
The family moved to Lubbock and “blew me and Hawkins out Sometime later, then Lance
Corporal White was injured again
when Lonnie and Donnie were the front. I couldn’t see or hear. – this time during a monsoon. “A
two. They enlisted in the Marines Hawkins was wounded, too, but typhoon hit. Our vehicles were
with two of their buddies even he picked me up and carried me submerged. Someone threw a 204#
before they graduated from over to a bunker. I kept hearing 8” projectile that landed on my
Lubbock High in 1967 and were someone far away hollering, ‘I’m back. I knew I was hurt, but I was
sent to boot camp at MCRD hit!’ Finally, an officer told me checked out, and we kept moving.
(Marine Corps Recruit Depot) to stop yelling. He knew I was
54 Senior Link
