Page 47 - Senior Link Magazine Winter 2020- Lubbock Online Magazine

Vietnam War

radio classes, learned how to use a compass, and how “On December 22nd, 1969, we had settled in for the
to call in coordinates. They gave us a little blue book night. I was near my buddy Mims from Houston when
that had everything we needed to know. We stayed up all hell broke loose. I heard someone yell for help. No
late at night and studied that little book with a flashlight one wanted to go get him, so I went down the hill to
under our blankets after lights out. After Basic, I got pick up the wounded man. Coming back up the hill,
to come home for 30 days, then I headed to Oceanside, I was hit by a mortar round and blown off my feet. I
California, where I boarded a plane for Vietnam. We didn’t even know I was hit until I looked down at my
stopped over in Hawaii for a couple of hours. I sat by a right leg, and my pants were soaked in blood. I was
1st Lieutenant who was already scared, and we hadn’t bleedin’ like a stuck pig. I also had shrapnel in my left
even gotten to Vietnam! shoulder. A Navy Corpsman patched me up with an
ace bandage. The next thing I knew, I was put on a
“We arrived in DaNang. I was assigned to Alpha Medevac chopper. They pulled me up on a stretcher. I
Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines. This Lieutenant was taken to a hospital in DaNang. They hit me with
told us to go pick up our M-16s (automatic rifles) and a big needle – a spinal tap, and I was paralyzed from
hitchhike to our assigned area called Hill 190. We had the waist down. I woke up after sleeping for 18 hours.
no idea where that was. We were all young and green. Everything was white – white curtains, white sheets
We went through a village where we saw some bodies and white people in white gowns. I asked, ‘Am I dead?’
but figured that must be normal in Vietnam. We finally They assured me that I was not, just in a hospital.”
arrived at a base camp, and they asked us why we went
through that village. They told us that it had just been
hit by the Vietcong, and we could have walked into an
ambush and been killed. We finally arrived at Hill 190.
They assigned us to 12-man KTs (kill teams). We went
out at night and hunted for Vietcong.” Clarence was
immediately thrust into combat. He said, “On our first
mission, they (Vietcong) hit us. We went on a sweep.
We got out of the helicopter and made a 360-degree
circle. Our gunboats swept the area (with artillery)
before we came in. I was scared. Everybody was
scared. After a while, I learned to smell the Vietnamese
soldiers and knew they were out there.

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