Page 35 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Fall 2021 - Online Magazine

army
vIetNam

which was part of the Engineers. I learned different After I retired, we moved to Claude, where we continue
types of rock crushers and material separating to be active in the American Legion and enjoy the
equipment, which separated rocks up to two inches in comradery of fellow Veterans.
diameter down to sand; the main product was gravel
and sand.
After AIT training, I was sent to Fort Hood in Texas,
where I drove a 5-ton dump truck for the next nine
months, until I received orders to go to Viet Nam
in May of 1971. When I arrived in Viet Nam, I was
assigned to an Engineering Company that did repair
work on the roads. I was assigned to the warehouse,
issuing picks and shovels. After about two weeks of
solitary confinement on that job, I was about to go
crazy.

One morning, while in morning formation, the
Commander said they needed a volunteer to drive
a gun truck; I couldn’t get my hand up fast enough.
The battalion I was assigned to had companies spread
out over about 300 miles. Our job was to take the
paperwork between the different companies. The name
of my gun truck was “Mr. Bojangles”. It had 4’ high, ½”
thick steel plate all the way around the bed of the truck,
with a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on the front
and back of the bed and a 30-caliber M60 on each side. I
drove that truck for the next eight months.

By that time (1972), because of all the protests against
the war, President Nixon was trying to wind down our
presence in Viet Nam. My company was disbanded, and
I was assigned to a company that had a quarry. I stayed
there until President Nixon came out with a plan: if you
had less than a year of your enlistment left, you could
be discharged. If you had one year but less than two
years, you could be transferred to the Reserves for the
remainder of your enlistment, which I did.
My daughter was born in 1971 while I was in Viet Nam,
and my son was born in 1975, after I was discharged
from the Army.

In 1977, I was working three or four jobs in New York
before I decided to move to Texas. Moving to Amarillo
was one of the best things I have done in my life. I
found a job at the power plant on the coal handling
side and went through an apprenticeship program to
become an electrician. I retired from the coal handling
side of the power plant, after working there for 38 years.

Amarillo Senior Link 35