Page 82 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2020- Online Magazine

Larry Griggs
pec 4 Larry Griggs said
he “felt normal” when he
Sreturned home from the
fighting in Vietnam. He had
served in the 196th Light Infantry
Brigade and had seen his share
of combat. When his mother saw
him, she simply said, “You’ve
changed.” Larry had experienced
a lot in Vietnam, but he didn’t
realize at the time how much it
would affect him throughout his
life.
One of seven siblings, Larry
D. Griggs was born to Ray and
Susie Griggs in Lubbock on
November 23, 1945, just a couple
of months after WWII ended.
He started working at age 14 at
Brooks Supermarket on Avenue
A. He graduated Lubbock High
in 1964 and attended Texas Tech
before receiving his draft notice
in December 1965 from the
U.S. Army. He was inducted in
Amarillo and sent to Ft. Polk,
82 Senior Link
Good Soldier, "Good Guy"
by Larry A. Williams
Louisiana for basic
training. “After
advanced training
in helicopter
maintenance in
Virginia, [I was]
sent to Ft. Hood,
Texas. They
found out that
I was a Huey
mechanic, and I
received orders for
Vietnam.” After a
ten day leave back
in Lubbock, he
was deployed.
Larry arrived at
Cam Ranh Bay in
December 1966.
“I was taken to
the ‘Iron Triangle’ area just seven
miles from the Cambodian border
and was assigned as a Crew Chief
on a Huey Mac (UH-1 helicopter).
The outgoing Crew Chief simply
said, ‘Here’s your helicopter’.
The Crew Chief’s responsibility
included being the gunner of a
.60 caliber machine gun. We were
always exposed to the enemy. I
really don’t remember my first
mission. After a while, they all
seemed to look alike. We would
drop off troops in a hot zone,
sometimes just hovering over a
small hill or rise in the ground.
Sometimes we would drop
off ammunition and supplies.
Other times, we would pick up
the wounded and bring them
back to a MASH unit. I went on
numerous missions. I don’t even
remember how many.”
Griggs saw plenty of action in
Vietnam. He received the Air
Medal with a “V” for valor twice
for “Heroism while participating
in aerial flight in the Republic of
Vietnam”. On February 26, 1967,
then Private First Class Griggs
“helped direct his aircraft’s
descent into a narrow, unsecured
landing zone” and according
to his citation, he “jumped out
of the aircraft...and assisted in
loading the casualty.” The second
Air Medal was awarded after
action on August 19, 1967 to aid
in saving four crew members
from a CH47 Chinook who were
left on a beach under “heavy
hostile fire”. Part of his citation
read, “Specialist Griggs’ ship
descended to 300 feet, and he
commenced firing at the hostile
force, occasionally exposing
himself to enemy fire while
leaning out of the aircraft to adjust
and reload the weapon...enabling
the stranded men to board the
(Marine) rescue ship.”
Not recalling exactly when
and where it happened, Larry
recounted how he was wounded
and awarded the Purple Heart.
He said, “I was just doing my
job. I didn’t even know where we
were most of the time. We had
just picked up some wounded
and dropped them off at a MASH
unit. They (my fellow soldiers
on the Huey) said that I’d been
hit by small arms, and pieces
of shrapnel had imbedded in
my neck. I was sent to a MASH
hospital and patched up. I wasn’t
there long and was sent back
up (into combat). We moved up
from the ‘Iron Triangle’ to Chu
Lai at a Marine Base.” Years
later, Griggs found out that he
had participated in the following
operations in 1967: Jan 8-26 –