Page 79 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2020- Online Magazine

ARMY
VIETNAM

LUBBOCK

months and several surgeries later, I was sent to
Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio. Altogether,
I spent a little over 13 months in the hospital. After
my medical discharge from the Army, I was ready
to get back to a somewhat normal life.

Looking back, I see how God has ordered my life;
most of it I only see in hindsight. There have been
lots of twists and turns and ups and downs, but
with every blessing and every challenge, God was
right there with me. This past December, Debra
and I celebrated our 50th anniversary. My wife,
three kids, their spouses, and seven grandchildren
The action we saw was hit and miss. The CO of the have made the “rollercoaster” ride well worth it.
company when I arrived in the field was one of the
best. He had been in the field for over three years
with the lowest loss of personnel. He had been
two years without a single casualty. When he left,
everything changed.

The new CO often volunteered us for missions
that, to us, seemed questionable, and we suffered
several casualties in a short time. We got orders to
help another company that had run into trouble.
They had hit a booby trap on Hill 238 earlier that
morning. When we got out of the choppers, our
command told us not to get off the trail as they
suspected more traps. It was my platoon's turn
to lead off but, because of the way we unloaded,
another platoon took the lead. In just a few
minutes, the whole top of the hill exploded. I
believe it was considered the largest booby trap hit
in Vietnam.

I was among the wounded who were medivacked
to Duc Pho for triage, then on to Chu Lai. Besides
the shrapnel, my ulna artery and nerve for my left
hand were severed. The attack happened on April Life Christian Bible Institute
15, 1970 – 50 years ago. On April 16, an officer came
through the hospital ward handing out a “whole
slew of Purple Hearts”. I was then taken to Tokyo
for more surgery.
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After a month in Tokyo, I was transported to // AFFORDABLE// // DO-ABLE // // ENJOYABLE//
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William Beaumont Hospital in El Paso. Four (806) 701-5390
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