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Shirley Gravely, left, and her husband, Charles Gravely, an Army retiree, pin a rose on the shirt of military veteran Clarence Hylton on Wednesday at the Edwards Adult Day Care Center in Martinsville. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
Thursday, November 12, 2009
By PAUL COLLINS - Bulletin Staff Writer
MacArthur Clark and others joined in the Veterans Day activities at the Edwards Adult Day Care Center on Wednesday. For some, their memories tagged along as well.
Clark, who was an Army helicopter mechanic during the Vietnam War from 1964-66, recalled flying in helicopters that were dropping off paratroopers over the fighting zone. Many of them were 18 or 19 years old, and as they parachuted out they would scream, “Mama, Mama, Mama,” he said sadly.
“You take an 18- or 19-year-old, knowing they might be killed and hollering for my Mama. That really hurt me. There was nothing I could do about it,” said Clark, who was a specialist 4th class.
“That was hard to swallow,” he added.
He also recalled his own fear in combat in Vietnam. “I tell you the truth: I was scared plenty of days over there. I got shot at a lot. I didn’t get wounded, but scared — ooh-wee.”
But there were some enjoyable times in Vietnam, too. Entertainers, such as Bob Hope and Ike and Tina Turner, performed for the troops. Clark said he didn’t know who Tina Turner was, but he danced with her. “I held her close to me,” he said, adding, “she has better looking legs than she does on TV.”
Clark, 67, of Martinsville, was touched by the Veterans Day celebration at Edwards Adult Day Care center. “It’s showing love for what veterans do. We tried to protect our country and fellow men.”
Karen Riddle, executive director of the adult day care center, said the veterans-themed activities included a breakfast, flower-pinning on veterans, lunch and a group conversation (“fireside chat”) about military experiences.
Twenty of the center’s 40 enrolled participants are veterans, Riddle said. In all, about 35 to 40 participants, relatives and guests attended the celebration, she said.
Thomas L. Holiday, 81, of Villa Heights, served two tours in the Vietnam War and also served in the Korean War during his 20 years, one month and 15 days in the Army.
He initially served in Germany with the 1st Combat Engineers, 1st Infantry Division, and in France with 22nd Ordnance Division.
Holiday served in the Korean War as a squad leader with the 3rd Infantry Division, 65th Infantry Regiment. He recalled the heat in summer, the extreme cold in winter and the monsoon season during his 1950-53 service there. The monsoon season lasted about two months, he recalled. “It would rain an hour. The raindrops were as big as your” fingertips.
He recalled frequently being on the front line.
Once, his squad was on a mountain firing shells that would explode in midair and throw out shrapnel in an effort to provide cover for the (South Korea) Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) forces, who were trying to protect an ammunition depot from being captured by the North Korean army.
He recalled a frightened young ROKA soldier trying to escape from the battle, but he prevented him from doing that. “When the enemy is running hot and heavy, (you) run or fight,” he said, adding that ROKA was a good fighting force.
Holiday served two tours of duty in Vietnam: part of 1965 and parts of 1967 and 1968. During his first tour, he served with the 19th Combat Engineers and was a maintenance supervisor. His unit built roads in Cam Ranh Bay, where there was a military facility. He suffered a pinched nerve in his back and was taken to Walter Reed Hospital.
His second tour in Vietnam was in 1967-68 and lasted past his scheduled May 1968 discharge from the Army. He served with the 123rd Aviation Company, 24th Infantry Division.
He recalled one night during that tour when everything grew quiet and the soldiers from his unit and others there felt Viet Cong forces were going to attack. Instead of sleeping outside in tents, many soldiers went inside 6- to 8-foot underground bunkers reinforced with sandbags in front and on top.
Holiday and some others did not go in bunkers. He felt the enemy knew where the bunkers were, so “I feel I’m just as safe out here as in the bunker,” he recalled.
The enemy came closer, and a round of ammunition landed inside the sandbagged area, four feet from Holiday’s head. “The scrap metal from it riddled all my clothes. I didn’t get hit,” he said.
Men from Holiday’s unit and other units came out of the bunker to try to stop the Viet Cong from coming in.
“We stopped them,” Holiday said of the encounter with the Viet Cong.
Ray Bumstead, 84, of Martinsville, served in the Navy for three years during World War II, about 1943-45, according to Bumstead and his wife, Alice. He was a radioteletyper, mostly on the USS Starlight in the South Pacific theater. A radio teletype is a teletypewriter equipped for receiving or transmitting messages by radio instead of wire, according to online information.
The USS Starlight was engaged in battles but never took a direct hit by a kamikaze pilot, the Bumsteads said. But Ray Bumstead saw a U.S. ship that was struck by a kamikaze, and as a result the ship sank.
He said sailors tried to help each other. “It was survival at the time,” he added.
Besides Clark, Holiday and Bumstead, other veterans who were honored include: Clarence Hylton, three years in the Army; Phillip Collins, two years in the Army; Harold Elliot, five years in the Army; James Wood, three years in the Air Force; Woody Lancaster, four years in the Air Force; and Earl Foster, two years in the Air Force, according to Susan Warren, activities coordinator at the center.
Also, Brandon Sink, who is serving in the Navy Reserves as a Marine Corps medic, was recognized. He is the grandson of Gladys Sink, a participant at the center. Hisako Cardwell, the widow of Army veteran Charles Savege, was recognized.
Company B of the Magna Vista High School Junior ROTC gave a presentation at the center, including drills, and a collective salute to veterans.
Maj. Richard Adams, senior Army instructor for the Magna Vista Junior ROTC, praised veterans for their service to the country and its freedoms. He noted that four of Magna Vista’s former cadets are in Afghanistan or Iraq, and 10 or 12 have returned. A couple gave their lives, and a couple have been handicapped for life, he said. |
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