Page 91 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2025 - Online Magazine

marine COrps | vietnam

john boat). We used it to run supplies and personnel up to go back to Wichita, KS, so my uncle was able to get me
the river to Dong Ha. The North Vietnamese would put transferred. We stayed in Wichita for six years and then
floating mines in the river, so the Navy gave me some transferred to Neodesha, KS. In 1980, Burlington Northern
concussion grenades to blow them up when I ran across Railroad bought Frisco. I retired from BNSF after 37
them. The local fisherman loved it because all the fish years.”
would float up to the top, and they could scoop them up
in their nets.” Roy and Theresa divorced in 1991. but “In 2004, I met
Arla Jo Anderton on the internet. She lived in Lubbock
After one year and twenty-eight days in Vietnam, “We and was a schoolteacher at Coronado High School and
were getting ready to leave the country, so we started later at Texas Tech. I moved to Lubbock, and we got
getting shots. We had to get more shots at Okinawa, married in 2009. Together we have six children and eight
Japan, and then Alaska. They would bring out a staff car grandchildren.
to take the three of us to go get our shots. I returned to
Sherman where I finally finished getting my shots. After “I talked to some guys who had gone on the Texas South
my leave, I got stationed back at Camp Pendleton and was Plains Honor Flight, and they encouraged me to go,
discharged on July 28, 1969. so I went on the fall 2024 flight with my son Britton as
a guardian.” Looking back on his life, Roy said, “My
Just before getting out of the service in June 1969, Roy Marine Corps experience meant the most to me. It helped
married Theresa Black. The union produced three sons. me grow up.” Roy was awarded numerous medals for his
Roy recalled, “I had an uncle in Sherman who was pretty service including the Purple Heart and Combat Action
high up at Frisco Railroad, so he got me a job there. After Ribbon.
a year, I became a locomotive engineer. My wife wanted

Lubbock Senior Link 91