- Joined
- Jun 4, 2013
- Messages
- 9,029
Sadly, unless you happen to read this on ROD, you will never know of this man or what he did. He tells very few and only when asked, and then only in pieces. Usually it takes a few glasses of wine to loosen him up because he only drinks wine and very rarely.
Disclaimer: If I use the wrong terms or sequence, it's been a long time and I'm recounting a series of stories.
I have a brother in law. He actually did this and I am consolidating what he did:
The Vietnam war was raging when he graduated high school. He wanted to go to college but his group of friends were all joining the Marines and going to Vietnam. They convinced him to go. They all joined as 0311 infantry.
At that time, you could join the Marines with other people and be placed in the same platoon simply by arriving at the same time. My brother is always responsible and reliable and committed to what he says he will do so he left early to bootcamp to ensure he would arrive in time no matter what happened. He arrived a day too early and was pushed into an earlier platoon. He could have fought it but didn't.
He went through bootcamp knowing they were all still in the same company and were going to serve together. When bootcamp is completed, they all get together and talk about their same orders and have a good time. He joins his platoon to deploy and they join theirs.
His platoon is sent to Vietnam. At the last minute, the platoon of his friends are deployed to Okinawa Japan. NONE of his group that convinced him to join ever serves in war except him.
He arrives in Vietnam and they prepare to deploy to the jungle. They take off and are in a line of helicopters. As they fly along, the helicopter ahead of him, with members of his platoon, is shot out of the sky with no survivors.
The rest lands and begin their time as infantry in Vietnam.
He was a grunt. Just like the movies. Not the perfect hair Charlie Sheen movies where it's just torture to be there with aggressive men and an enemy that can swarm you, but real jungle. He spent months lying in the wet, hot, and incredibly humid jungle in ambush parties. He tells me that the day he left Vietnam, you couldn't place a quarter on his skin without covering an insect bite and it was that way the whole time. To this day, he won't camp, or go to a camp, or go anywhere he feels he will be insect bitten.
There was a day when they had to do a patrol and they went through an open area. The person directly in front of him stepped on a land mine and it exploded. He was injured (purple heart) and the man directly behind him was killed.
Then the day came when a nearby French communications unit was surrounded on a hilltop. They were as good as dead and the US forces in the area couldn't get orders to go in. The platoon Sergeant asked for volunteers to go with him to rescue the French unit from being overrun. My brother volunteered. They battled their way up the hill, gathered the unit, and battled their way out. It was a battle that was horrific.
For that he earned the Bronze Star and the highest ranking medal the French give to those outside of French military. These adorne his bedroom wall in a case out of sight of visitors and the case is filled with medals.
Just for those who don't know, the Bronze star is below the Medal of Honor and the Silver Star. With all of these top medals, most are posthumously. It's extremely rare to meet someone with any of these.
Before I finish, I just want to say that Daniel Rodriguez of the Rams has a Bronze star. Just a perspective of who he is.
When my brother returned from war he was literally spit on at the airport. When he went on to college to achieve a bachelor's, he was once called out by a professor as a baby killer, in front of the entire class, and he had to gather his things and leave.
He is still to this day the best dad, husband, and American I have ever known. There's zero chance I could be what he is after all he has given. Best man I've ever known.
Disclaimer: If I use the wrong terms or sequence, it's been a long time and I'm recounting a series of stories.
I have a brother in law. He actually did this and I am consolidating what he did:
The Vietnam war was raging when he graduated high school. He wanted to go to college but his group of friends were all joining the Marines and going to Vietnam. They convinced him to go. They all joined as 0311 infantry.
At that time, you could join the Marines with other people and be placed in the same platoon simply by arriving at the same time. My brother is always responsible and reliable and committed to what he says he will do so he left early to bootcamp to ensure he would arrive in time no matter what happened. He arrived a day too early and was pushed into an earlier platoon. He could have fought it but didn't.
He went through bootcamp knowing they were all still in the same company and were going to serve together. When bootcamp is completed, they all get together and talk about their same orders and have a good time. He joins his platoon to deploy and they join theirs.
His platoon is sent to Vietnam. At the last minute, the platoon of his friends are deployed to Okinawa Japan. NONE of his group that convinced him to join ever serves in war except him.
He arrives in Vietnam and they prepare to deploy to the jungle. They take off and are in a line of helicopters. As they fly along, the helicopter ahead of him, with members of his platoon, is shot out of the sky with no survivors.
The rest lands and begin their time as infantry in Vietnam.
He was a grunt. Just like the movies. Not the perfect hair Charlie Sheen movies where it's just torture to be there with aggressive men and an enemy that can swarm you, but real jungle. He spent months lying in the wet, hot, and incredibly humid jungle in ambush parties. He tells me that the day he left Vietnam, you couldn't place a quarter on his skin without covering an insect bite and it was that way the whole time. To this day, he won't camp, or go to a camp, or go anywhere he feels he will be insect bitten.
There was a day when they had to do a patrol and they went through an open area. The person directly in front of him stepped on a land mine and it exploded. He was injured (purple heart) and the man directly behind him was killed.
Then the day came when a nearby French communications unit was surrounded on a hilltop. They were as good as dead and the US forces in the area couldn't get orders to go in. The platoon Sergeant asked for volunteers to go with him to rescue the French unit from being overrun. My brother volunteered. They battled their way up the hill, gathered the unit, and battled their way out. It was a battle that was horrific.
For that he earned the Bronze Star and the highest ranking medal the French give to those outside of French military. These adorne his bedroom wall in a case out of sight of visitors and the case is filled with medals.
Just for those who don't know, the Bronze star is below the Medal of Honor and the Silver Star. With all of these top medals, most are posthumously. It's extremely rare to meet someone with any of these.
Before I finish, I just want to say that Daniel Rodriguez of the Rams has a Bronze star. Just a perspective of who he is.
When my brother returned from war he was literally spit on at the airport. When he went on to college to achieve a bachelor's, he was once called out by a professor as a baby killer, in front of the entire class, and he had to gather his things and leave.
He is still to this day the best dad, husband, and American I have ever known. There's zero chance I could be what he is after all he has given. Best man I've ever known.
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