May 16, 2010

Describe your military experience or that of someone in your family.

I had an initial drat number of 314 or something high like that and therefore was never a consideration for the draft to go to the Viet Nam War.However Stanley was drafted and Clair went in as an MP so that he could avoid the draft. Clair served at Fort Ord in southern California and Stan went to Viet Nam. After Stan had been released from military service he came home and shared my room downstairs when he wasn't at college. He told me of some of the experiences that he had and some of the challenges in Viet Nam. He went to Viet Nam as an Army Corp Engineer. I don't know if he had any officer rank but I don't believe he did. He sat in the gunner seat as his partner would operate one of the large dump trucks. He told me once that the convoy would not stop for anything due to the dangers of sniper fire and ambush attacks so if a truck would get a flat tire you were left there. I don't know if they would then call in air support or anything but he was blessed to not have had that happen. There was one time when the driver was killed by a claymore mine that went off and Stan just had particles hit his jacket. Stan showed a picture of one of the trucks and told me that if he were to stand net to the tire he would barely come to the center of the tire or in other words the tires were a little over twelve feet tall.

Stan then received a blessing from the Lord which would end his military service and bring him home with an honorable medical release from the service. He woke one day and was seeing double. It wasn't blurry he said just two images of everything. he was sent to the military hospital in Japan and they could not discover the problem so after a month in the Japan hospital they sent him to the military hospital in Colorado. Still nothing could be detected as the cause and then one morning he awoke and the problem was gone. he was then released and has had one 5 minute attack in his life since that time. i am sure the Lord was saving him for service as a Stake President as well as a Bishop and other positions that he has held since tat time.

One time I discovered why Stan was made a rifleman or whatever they were called. We took the 22 rifles out and he showed me how he could hit walnut rolling down the bank from the canal in the driveway. He wouldn't even have to put it to his eye and would shoot them from the hip position. It was fun to see how well he could shoot. And then it became clear why he couldn't stay in the army without his proper eye sight.

I cannot leave this blog without making a comment about the sacrifice that other members of my family have given to our country. I had two great Uncles that fought in WW 1. Both of them sustained major injuries. I remember best Uncle Mark Johnson. He lost both of his legs and was in a wheel chair. However he was a lot of fun and I always loved it when we visited them in Holden on Memorial Day.