1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,120 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,200 I was speaking up near Knoxville a little about a little over a 6 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,760 year ago and a woman come up to me and she said, are, have you 7 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:20,600 heard of Honor Air? And I said, yeah, I've heard of 8 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:21,800 it. You know, and they were taking 9 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,480 World War 2 veterans and Korean veterans where she said, well, 10 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,280 now we're taking Vietnam Veterans, which means you guys 11 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:29,680 are getting old. You know, our, our, you know, 12 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,119 that greatest generation has, has passed away. 13 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:36,680 I mean, there's last November I spoke to a luncheon in Atlanta, 14 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,840 400 veterans, one World War 2 veteran one, and then the Korean 15 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,160 and I guess us guys now. In fact, I was amazed at how 16 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:49,480 many grateful when we went, I went to Washington, DC in April 17 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:57,000 with 131 veterans, three Korean War Veterans and 127 Vietnam 18 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,800 Veterans and 1 Desert Storm veteran. 19 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:04,080 And, and, and we've, we went to all these memorials. 20 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:09,560 Now 30 years ago, right before we left here, we, I had done a 21 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,440 victory over Vietnam conference, facilitate a victory over 22 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,200 Vietnam conference at the 700 Club. 23 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,480 We did seven, I think in five years. 24 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,440 And the year before we moved to Chattanooga, we went to the wall 25 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,400 in Washington, DC, the Vietnam Memorial. 26 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,600 And when we went there, there's, you know, they have all the 27 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,040 statistics. You, if you know a name and 28 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,880 where they were born, you can go there and they'll give you a 29 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,760 piece of paper and your pencil and you make an edging of that 30 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:45,240 person's name that's engraved on the wall. 58,000 names of those 31 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,000 who paid the ultimate price in in Vietnam. 32 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,880 And my best friend Danny, I'll talk about just a minute, was 33 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,680 killed standing right next to me in our first major battle. 34 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,320 We had gone through all our training together. 35 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,000 He was my best friend and the 1st combat operator was killed 36 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:06,480 right next to me and saw I knew Danny died in February of 1966. 37 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,320 I went to the panel and I went to the to the book of the names 38 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,200 and there were 4 Daniels I didn't know. 39 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,880 I couldn't remember where, you know, I had a horrible time 40 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,560 remembering names and I still struggle at times because I 41 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:22,360 blotted it all. I didn't want to remember, I 42 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,440 wanted to forget. But there were 4 Daniels in the 43 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:30,760 Marine Corps that and that died in Vietnam in February of 1960s. 44 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,040 I couldn't remember his name. And people were going and they 45 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,040 were put into etchings and I, I couldn't remember his name. 46 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:42,160 And this time when I went, it wasn't so emotional because as I 47 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,920 was getting ready to go to Vietnam, but I did not know at 48 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:49,600 that time that God took all that pain, all that healing away. 49 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,800 And so this time I was able just to minister to the other people 50 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,120 that are there. But, you know, I went to the 51 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,520 World War 2 memorial and the Korean memorial. 52 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,280 Neither one of those were in Washington, DC Then the Vietnam 53 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,320 Memorial before they had the World War 2 and Korean Memorial 54 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:10,680 went to the Wall. And, you know, it's just it was 55 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,320 powerful to think of the the price of freedom, but, you know, 56 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:15,840 the ultimate price for our freedom. 57 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:16,560 Yeah. Yeah. 58 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,560 The veterans, you know, we, we owe a debt of gratitude to them. 59 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,360 But the one that paid the ultimate price for our freedom 60 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,440 is the person of Jesus Christ. And, you know, and I, I love, 61 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:30,600 you know what John said, when the sun has made you free, you 62 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:32,280 are free indeed. Amen. 63 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,360 When I joined the Marine Corps, you know, I, I shared this as a 64 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,120 first service, you know, and every now and then I'll mention 65 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:45,440 some program, you know, TV program that, you know, shortly 66 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:47,480 ago. They weren't even alive, Rod, 67 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,040 when that, that program, you know, come out and, and, and I 68 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:55,360 mentioned, you know, that when I volunteered to, to I've actually 69 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,280 volunteered to go to Vietnam. And I'd said I, because I knew 70 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,960 what combat was all about, you know, and I said, it's kind of 71 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,280 like when you get married. And there were people that did 72 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:07,560 that same thing. They just, they, they just 73 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,480 laughed. And what I mean by that is that, 74 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,480 you know, when you get married, you think you know what you're 75 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:13,880 doing. But then I'm going to let Pastor 76 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,959 Dave work that out with you. But, you know, I, I had seen on 77 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:24,120 TVI had seen John Wayne and the Sands of Iwo Jima 3 times. 78 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,800 And yeah, I see a couple, couple of my mature brothers here today 79 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,720 that you might remember. Tuesday night, Victoria Morrow 80 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,920 on combat. You know so man, I had to and 81 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,280 you know so I, I thought I've got this all figured out you 82 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:40,520 know so we. And when we shipped out to 83 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:45,760 Vietnam in the fall of 1965, man, I knew the war was going to 84 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,680 be over quickly because the Marines had landed and. 85 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:55,080 And like I said this, so Vietnam was a different kind of war. 86 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,240 It was guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare is where your 87 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:02,640 enemy lets you wait. So it's his advantage to let you 88 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,240 find him. And so one of the, our first 89 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,600 major operation, we were on a search and destroy mission South 90 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:14,320 of the of the Demilitarized Zone and we had 217 Marines that are 91 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,800 reinforced infantry company. And there was we got woken up in 92 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:23,160 the middle of the night, flown and we landed in a open field, 93 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:28,160 set up a perimeter real quick and, and from 2:00 till dawn, we 94 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,640 just, we sat there not knowing what was going on. 95 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:35,280 They got the squad leaders together, said OK, a village at 96 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:39,920 a S enemy's army post nearby had been overrun tonight by an 97 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,240 unknown size enemy force. And so they put us on 98 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:44,400 helicopters. We landed. 99 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:49,040 We start out at dawn and for hours and hours we kept 100 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:51,680 searching for this elusive enemy. 101 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:54,680 We would see signs that they've been there, discarded equipment, 102 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,200 some bloody bandages and, you know, all day, 2:00 in the 103 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,080 afternoon. I'm exhausted. 104 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:04,040 I'm, I'm barely 18, you know, I'm carrying about 50 lbs of 105 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,200 explosives and, and ammunition for the mortar crew. 106 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,080 And we're walking. I'm, I'm just, you know, I've 107 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,080 never been so tired of my life. And, and I remember looking at 108 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,440 my platoon Sergeant, who was a Korean War veteran who took us 109 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,600 new guys under his wing. And I remember asking, Sergeant, 110 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,320 are we going to take a break? And as I was talking to him, we 111 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,120 did not know that we had pushed a battalion of Vietcong regular 112 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:33,440 650 enemy soldiers into a tree line on a peninsula. 113 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,160 We had pushed them. They had nowhere else to go. 114 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:38,760 And we were walking across this open field and I remember as I 115 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,680 was asking my platoon Sergeant if we were going to take a 116 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,960 break, the enemy opened fire. And as I was looking at my 117 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,640 platoon Sergeant, I saw his head literally explode as a 51 118 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,160 caliber machine gun run hit him in the head, killing him 119 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,560 instantly. And I remember as I started to 120 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,680 throw myself down, out of the corner of my eye, I saw as my 121 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,280 best friend Danny took a machine gun run to the chest, killing 122 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:03,840 him instantly and he and throw him backwards. 123 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,640 And I remember throwing myself down to the ground and looking, 124 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:12,200 you know, I couldn't see anything but gunt muzzle flashes 125 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,680 in the tree line. And I remember shooting at an 126 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,160 enemy that I didn't, even, couldn't even see. 127 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,680 And so we lay there in the open field and I could hear our 128 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,080 company commander on the radio screaming over the, the sounds 129 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:27,120 of explosions. They were dropping mortars and 130 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,880 rockets and, and, and we were pinned down this field. 131 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,760 And I could hear him calling for artillery, calling for gunships, 132 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,520 calling for anything that would get, you know, suppress the 133 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:38,800 enemy's fire. And after about 15 minutes, the, 134 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,080 the command went up and down the line to assault the tree line 135 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:45,560 'cause we couldn't lay there exposed. 136 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:47,840 Now, I'm going to be real honest with you. 137 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,880 You know, I remember there was a movie nobody remembers, some of 138 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,000 those old people years ago, Audie Murphy played a civil, a 139 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,320 civil War movie called The Red Badge of Courage. 140 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,680 And at, I think it was the, the first battle that they had, some 141 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:04,280 of them dropped their weapons and ran. 142 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:10,720 And, and I'll be honest with you, I've never seen anybody die 143 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,080 before. And I'm laying there on the 144 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,800 field on fire in the jungle and I'm trying to get as low to the 145 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,080 ground as I can, really praying for the ground to open up and 146 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,160 swallow me. I did not want to get up because 147 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,600 I knew I would not. I would never make it to that 148 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:31,160 tree line. But then to my left, I saw my 149 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:35,679 fellow Marines get up. On my right, I saw my fellow 150 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,320 Marines get up and run to the battle. 151 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,560 And I didn't want to be, you know, because you depend on the 152 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:46,880 person on your left and on your right. 153 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,240 And so I got up and I knew it wasn't going to make it, but 154 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,440 somehow I did. I got the tree line. 155 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:56,080 It was over in 45 minutes. And at 45 minutes, my company of 156 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:00,600 219 Marines was reduced to 78 men, had not been killed or 157 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,760 wounded. And it took my my unit out of 158 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:05,920 the field. And then they asked for 159 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:07,760 volunteers. I remember I had two uncles that 160 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,120 were Korean War Veterans. They were Army, nothing 161 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,280 personal, you know, just, you know, and they were telling my 162 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,240 brother and I, you know, my twin brother, I joined the US is 163 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,800 never volunteered. You, you never, you don't tell. 164 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,480 That's, that's, you know, you volunteer to go in and you know, 165 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:24,840 they were volunteers. So they're asking for volunteers 166 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:29,200 to move from the bases out into the villages and live with the 167 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:33,080 people, train the local militia to take, you know, their, their 168 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:35,200 communities back from the Vietcong. 169 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,960 And so I went out, we moved into the village and, you know, it's 170 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,960 just, I love the people of Vietnam, but they, and, and, and 171 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,360 I felt sorry for them, you know, 'cause they, they faced 172 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,360 oppression. If, if they were, you know, ever 173 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:50,720 the enemy ever came in their village and they support the 174 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,440 Americans, they would kill them. You know, they would come to 175 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,080 villages at night, take their sons or daughters into the 176 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,520 jungle and make, you know, and make them become communist 177 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,200 soldiers and, and serve the, the communists. 178 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,240 And so, you know, we, we lived in the villages. 179 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:10,400 We, you know, we, we ate with them, we fought with them, we 180 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,560 bled with them. And sometimes we died with them, 181 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:16,360 winning the hearts and the minds and for the time that we were 182 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,600 doing at work, that they, they loved us. 183 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:19,880 We loved them. We built. 184 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,000 And so we, we began to know the territory around our villages. 185 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:29,040 We patrol day, night, afternoon and we we learned the area as 186 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,560 well as the people that lived there so that the enemy at that 187 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:35,280 time, before we started doing this, the enemy controlled the 188 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,600 night and the South Vietnamese army would withdraw to their 189 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,080 bases and the communists could do whatever they want. 190 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:45,440 When we moved in. Now they had to wonder when they 191 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:49,520 were going to run into us. And so I became a point man. 192 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:51,760 You know, a point man was a guy. You lead the patrol out your, 193 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,840 your job is to, you know, avoid the booby traps, avoid the 194 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,560 ambushes, find the enemy, kill them, and then get back to your 195 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,560 to your village. And, and I, I, I knew the whole 196 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:07,680 area around my village and I had, at that time we're, I, I 197 00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:11,440 had good hearing. You know, I asked Shirley, what 198 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,320 was that person's name again? She goes, you know, that's not 199 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:16,360 what I heard. But anyways, a lot more fun of 200 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:17,680 that. So I, but I had good hearing. 201 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:19,520 I still got good peripheral vision, you know, guys. 202 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:24,760 And so I'm, I'm the point guy. Well, one day my squad leader 203 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:29,120 went on on R&R, you know, for a week out of the country. 204 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,120 And we, they sent us a new squad leader from our rear area. 205 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:34,760 And I didn't know why. So we're preparing for this 206 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:36,640 patrol that night. And I was telling them, look, 207 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:38,320 there's been a lot of enemy activity. 208 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,680 We're going to try to go out there and, you know, and disrupt 209 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:43,600 the plans they have to attack our village. 210 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,800 And so he and I got into a discussion. 211 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:53,800 I'd call it a discussion. There's an argument about how 212 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:55,720 did you know what we were going to do? 213 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:57,760 And so he got mad at me. He was a Sergeant. 214 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,360 I was a Lance Corporal. So he put me at the back. 215 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:05,840 You know, there was 13 of us, and I was #11 in in the line as 216 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:10,000 we went out on patrol. And so this Sergeant and I don't 217 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,800 know what he was trying to prove, but he's on a patrol. 218 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,480 We're going down a trail he had never been on, only seen it on 219 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,600 an overlay and a map. And as we were coming to the 220 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,320 fishing village where we were going to set up our ambush, he 221 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:27,040 was walking point and I was, you know, we're we're stretched out 222 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,160 on the rice Paddy dike. And I remember as we came into 223 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,640 the village, all of a sudden, the hare literally stood up on 224 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,240 the back of my neck and, and, and on my arms. 225 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:41,960 It's like something was wrong. And before I could even yell or 226 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,440 say anything, the enemy opened fire. 227 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,920 We had walked into what was called an L-shaped ambush and 228 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:54,480 the gunfire was just a horrendous and behind me, a mine 229 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:59,320 went off and blew me and the two guys behind me off the trail 230 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,000 into the rice pad. And I remember laying floating 231 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,320 on my back in the rice Paddy. Just, you know, the concussion. 232 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:07,320 I was dazed. I was, I was trying to figure 233 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,400 out what's going on what and I'm laying there and out of the, I 234 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,200 mean, literally it was like Ghost come out of the, the 235 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:18,240 jungle and anybody they, they went up and down the, the line 236 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,680 on the, the rice petty Armand on the trail and anybody was still 237 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:23,280 alive. They killed them, took all their 238 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,280 weapons, equipment and I mean probably less than two minutes 239 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:30,240 just disappeared like Ghost to get back into the jungle and I'm 240 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,280 laying there floated as my trying to get my senses and 241 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,200 after I finally where I could start to hear and get another 242 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,560 what was going on. I could hear some moaning and 243 00:13:41,560 --> 00:13:45,920 the two guys behind me had taken the whole impact of the 244 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,040 explosion and we're we're seriously wounded. 245 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:51,760 And I got them up on the rice against the rice petty dike. 246 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,840 And they're, they're moaning, you know, and I'm trying to, you 247 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,680 know, keep them quiet because I expected them any minute that 248 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,240 they hear us and come back. And I remember crawling up the 249 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:03,720 trail to see if anybody was alive. 250 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,840 When I got to our radio man, our radio man was a big guy. 251 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,920 He was a Samoan, you know, think of the rock, you know, big guy. 252 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:14,280 And he was so big that when he fell backwards, when he was 253 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,720 shot, the radio was underneath him, you know, and they didn't 254 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,720 Even so that we had the radio, I called, we always had a platoon 255 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,680 on standby. Within 1/2 an hour they flew, 256 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:29,800 landed in the the rice Paddy dyke of the spread out. 257 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:33,440 They took the two wounded guys, put them in a medevac flight and 258 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:37,560 then we took the everybody in front of me had been killed. 259 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:43,640 You know, that Sergeant was shot 27 different times and you know, 260 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:49,840 and so they put me and my 10 fellow Marines and corpsman in 261 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,120 that helicopter and flew us back to the rear of the next morning. 262 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,360 They told me when I went to the company headquarters, they said 263 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,600 that that my friends had died on a, on a helicopter, never made 264 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:05,080 it to the hospital. And you know, and 118 year old 265 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:09,200 kid, 118 year old Marine survived that ambush and he 266 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:14,920 would carry the guilt of surviving for 23 years. 267 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:22,400 I did 2 tours back-to-back, you know, it was wounded twice. 268 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,280 And both times I wanted to get out of the hospital, get back to 269 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,440 my, my Marines as as fast as I could. 270 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:32,640 And then finally, you know, one day we had, we were on a fire 271 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,360 base and we got hit in the middle of the night and we, all 272 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,800 through the night, we fought the enemy off at dawn, you know, the 273 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,000 enemy withdrew and some, some helicopters landed. 274 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,320 Our, our division commander actually wanted to, you know, 275 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,480 get an update and they flew in. And so I'm standing there just 276 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,920 standing around. Somebody said, Helly, nobody 277 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,400 pronounces our last name right. You know, I've been called 278 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,200 brother hell so many times. But Helly and I here and said, 279 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,280 get on that chopper that you know, OK, you know, chopped on a 280 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,480 chopper and they flew me back to the Nang. 281 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:08,640 They said, get your gear, put me on a plane to Okinawa, Okinawa 282 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,160 to the States. Met my brother in Okinawa. 283 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,360 We both were coming back on the same day. 284 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,560 Got into LA. The a police officer said, you 285 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,080 guys are lucky just missed the protest protesters that were 286 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:22,840 throwing pig's blood on everybody in the uniform that 287 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:27,800 was coming back. And so we got, we got home this 288 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:33,960 little little humor here. We we got in a taxi cab and went 289 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,680 to my parents house, knocked on the door, you know, like 9/30, 290 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,160 10:00 at night. And the door opens and here's 291 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,200 remember that movie, you know, throw Mama from the train. 292 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,200 You know that here's here's that woman cigarette hanging for her 293 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,080 mouth, little thing on her head. And you know, Bunny slippers 294 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,560 with a big robe. And Ron and I are looking at 295 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:55,480 each other. We look up at the address, at 296 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:59,640 the address, look at her. And I go, hi, is my mom here? 297 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,440 And I thought, you know, maybe she had somebody stay at I don't 298 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,280 know. And she said, do I look like 299 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:07,040 your mother slammed the door right in our face. 300 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:08,880 My parents had moved. You know, that would be nice to 301 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,359 know. But so anyway, so now, so now 302 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:18,000 it's 1967 and, you know, things had happened because in Vietnam, 303 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:23,720 you know, the media so grossly distorted what was happening in 304 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:30,160 Vietnam that, you know, my mom said, Rod, look, I'm glad, I'm 305 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:31,960 glad you're OK. I'm glad you're home. 306 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:34,520 But this Vietnam thing, it's a little, you know, awkward 307 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,960 wasn't, you know, but it was like, but it's embarrassing, you 308 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,960 know, so let's do this. Let's not talk about it. 309 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:45,240 Let's just pretend like it didn't happen and let's get on 310 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:46,680 with our life. Well, I want to tell you 311 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,040 friends, I I wanted to get on my life. 312 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,520 I was so grateful to be alive and I and I wanted to forget. 313 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:55,800 But there's only one problem. And that was when I would go to 314 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,120 bed at night and I would close my eyes. 315 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:04,360 I would remember all over again, but I was very fortunate because 316 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:08,200 I was still in the Marine Corps and I was surrounded by guys 317 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,960 just like me that I could look at their ribbons under uniforms 318 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:13,600 and know where they've been, what they've done. 319 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:18,280 And there was that camaraderie, you know, that that Esprit de 320 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:22,520 corps, that fellowship. And so I was three years in the 321 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,080 United. I was a drill instructor for a 322 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,560 year and a half. That was that was interesting. 323 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:29,760 I didn't want to be a drill instructor and you know, I 324 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,520 believe in like having fun. And so, but it worked for me 325 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:34,840 because the recruits would say stay away from that guy. 326 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:40,320 He is crazy as it just guy. And so I did that for a year and 327 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:43,320 a half and then I re enlisted to be a criminal investigator. 328 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,600 You know, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, I had a better haircut. 329 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,320 And you know, I did that for about 20 months. 330 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,280 And so in 1970, I volunteered to go back to Vietnam. 331 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,440 And, you know, after I, you know, after I become a Christian 332 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:57,800 people I, I knew they'd say, dude, what was wrong? 333 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,600 What were you thinking? When, you know, you volunteer to 334 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,640 go back for 1/3 tour. And, you know, for a long time I 335 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:05,960 would just kind of nervously laugh it off and I'd say, well, 336 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:10,440 you know, I'm a Marine and, you know, we're just not that smart. 337 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,240 And you know, now, just so you know, we're the only ones who 338 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:15,760 can say that about ourselves. OK. 339 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,240 And I was just last one off and but really, and I realized 1 is 340 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,800 that by 1970, because of the media, because of the anti war, 341 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,520 this country had changed so dramatically that I mean, I 342 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,560 would put my uniform on and go somewhere and some peace 343 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:33,000 protester wanted to kill me for peace. 344 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,320 That was always interesting. And and or somebody call me a 345 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:39,800 baby killer. And when I was in Vietnam, there 346 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:41,920 was not, that's not who was killing the babies. 347 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,440 And you know, I just, I felt like this isn't my home anymore. 348 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:48,480 I don't recognize my own country. 349 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,520 And I felt more needed, useful, accepted 12,000 miles from home, 350 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:57,360 stinking Leech infested, rice Paddy, mosquito, malaria 351 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:00,440 infested. I felt more needed, accepted 352 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:01,960 there that I did in my own country. 353 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:07,320 And so I went back to Vietnam. I went back to the village they 354 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,280 had reorganized this, this the, the, what they were doing and 355 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,400 called it Combined Action Group. And we're, I was back in the 356 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,120 village. I had actually 3 squads of 357 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:20,400 Marines, a, a platoon of Vietnamese militia and we had 358 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,680 four or five village South of, of Dunang, the big military base 359 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:25,920 of Dunang that I was responsible for. 360 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,640 And we did the same thing. We started because they hadn't 361 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:32,520 been doing it the my, my predecessor had not to just they 362 00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:35,800 stayed in the villages and the enemy was everywhere. 363 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,080 And so we began taking the night away from the enemy again. 364 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,360 And one one day we planned an operation. 365 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:45,920 We found we hit a gorilla base camp completely by surprise, 366 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,440 surround him in the middle of the night, hit him at dawn, 367 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,400 killed a bunch of Vietcong, captured a bunch of equipment we 368 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:52,760 had. There was so much stuff there 369 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:53,880 that we couldn't even carry it away. 370 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,040 So a couple days later, I thought it would be a good idea. 371 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,920 Let's load up with explosives to go out there and blow up these 372 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,520 bunkers so that they can't and the equipment so they can't be 373 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,520 used again. So as we started off, I was 374 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,560 walking point. Now, I shouldn't been walking 375 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:12,800 point and I didn't consciously know why I was walking point. 376 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,760 But in reality, you know, several years earlier that my 377 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,560 mind would always say if I had been walking point that night, 378 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,920 what I have known would you know, would we have walked into 379 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,520 an ambush? And so as I walking across the 380 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,480 field, it takes longer to tell the story than than the time 381 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:35,640 that took. But I stopped at the edge of a 382 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,360 field looking for trip wires and something flew through the air, 383 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:43,000 hit me in the in the the thigh and fell right in front of me. 384 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,880 And I looked down and laying at my feet was a grenade. 385 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,240 And before I could move, before I could think it, you know, is 386 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,960 it this is it registered? It went off just ripping me 387 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:55,680 apart and throwing me back several feet. 388 00:21:55,680 --> 00:22:00,320 And when I hit the ground, it was the most incredible fear and 389 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,440 surge of adrenaline that I had ever experienced. 390 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,880 You know, I knew I was hurt and I knew that I needed to get away 391 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,880 from where I was. And I managed to struggle to my 392 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,080 feet. I had blood all over my face and 393 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,200 I reach up and wipe the blood out of my eyes and about 40 feet 394 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,560 from me, like where that cameras there was a there was a N enemy 395 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,600 soldier and had his rifle point at me and I saw the barrel 396 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:27,440 recoil and felt the bullets as they hit me and knock me back to 397 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,720 the ground. I mean, I hit the ground face 398 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:31,920 first. I had my face buried in the 399 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,240 ground and I was struggling to roll over because I was carrying 400 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:37,920 about 40 some pounds of explosive. 401 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:42,520 And I remember rolling over and I look up and that soldier that 402 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,960 I believe is the one that shot me was standing over me. 403 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,720 And I remember laying on the ground looking up at this young 404 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:51,240 man as he raised his rifle over his head and run his bandit 405 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:53,640 through my stomach as I was laying on the ground. 406 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,440 I thought this is not happening. This is this is a nightmare. 407 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,440 This is just it's not happening and I'm going to wake up and I'm 408 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:03,520 going to be OK. And the nightmare went on and 409 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,320 somehow I was able to get to my feet and I took a couple steps, 410 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,320 I felled, I struggled, got to my feet, took another couple steps 411 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,200 and fell, moving back to him. And finally I just fell and I 412 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,480 couldn't, I couldn't get up. I just rolled over and looked up 413 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,800 in a beautiful blue sky and and there were palm trees just, you 414 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,160 know, kind of blowing in the wind. 415 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:26,400 And there was a rice, freshly planted rice Paddy right right 416 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:28,600 next to the dike where I was laying with. 417 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:32,040 I watched the wind as it rippled across the freshly planted 418 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:37,560 emerald rice Paddy stalks and, and pain that I had never 419 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,240 experienced before just hit me, every part of my body. 420 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,600 And it hurt so bad that I just, I just wanted to close my eyes. 421 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:52,600 And, you know, I was tired, tired of the killing, tired of 422 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:54,920 the, of the, the suffering, tired. 423 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:59,080 And I just, I just, I knew I was going to die in that trail and I 424 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,440 just closed my eyes And then all of a sudden I was being dragged 425 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:06,360 across the field. And there was like a moment of 426 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:09,280 terror because I thought, if it's the communist, they have 427 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:13,400 me, you know, I'm, I'm in really deep trouble. 428 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:20,000 And then I heard a voice in my ear as my 21 year Old Navy 429 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:25,000 corpsman said, I've got you. I've I've got you. 430 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,280 And I remember them trying to stop the bleeding. 431 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,880 I remember them calling for a medevac flight that were not 432 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,800 available. A Marine helicopter, supply 433 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:39,600 helicopter, big double rotors. Sikorsky heard the crawl landed. 434 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,400 They put me in this great big open, you know, the cargo Bay of 435 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,480 this big helicopter in the middle on a stretcher. 436 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,800 And, and I remember looking over at the door gunner and he looked 437 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,920 over and just shook his head and looked out the window, never 438 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,200 looked back. It was about a 15 minute flight 439 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,360 and as we went higher and higher I could feel myself getting 440 00:24:56,360 --> 00:25:00,160 colder and colder as the blood was just literally draining out 441 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,280 of me and they got me to less than 15 minutes. 442 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:09,160 I was in a triage at a hospital, 95th Army Evac Hospital, MASH 443 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,160 Hospital at Danang, at China Beach. 444 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,560 And I remember all the activity, the smells, the sounds, the 445 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:20,120 blood, charge skin, blood. I wasn't the only casualty. 446 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:23,480 And I remember a doctor coming up and put the mask on my face 447 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:25,920 and he said, son, we're going to take you down to surgery. 448 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,560 And over the next few days, I was in and out of consciousness. 449 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,440 I remember one day when I was an investigator, my training 450 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,600 investigator was a guy named Mike Smith. 451 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:43,480 Mike was a staff Sergeant. And I remember I woke up one one 452 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,480 day and, and Mike was leaning over what I thought was my bed 453 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,480 and, and you know, he was looking at him. 454 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:52,720 He had tears. He was an African American. 455 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:56,640 My, my trainer loved the guy. He'd have me over to his house 456 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,920 for dinner and his family and, and he was, had tears running 457 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:02,200 down his eyes. And he said, you're going to be 458 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:06,160 OK, You're going to be OK. And I never saw him again. 459 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:11,120 Some years later, my brother was at Camp Pendleton and I went to 460 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:13,720 visit him and he said, what was that guy, you know that that 461 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:15,720 trained you, that investigator? I said Mike Smith. 462 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,680 He said, we got a new Provost Marshall on the base. 463 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:21,800 He's a major, but his name's Mike Smith. 464 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:26,000 He's a black Marine. And so I went to the Provost 465 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,240 Marshall's office. I walked in and and I said his 466 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,240 Major Smith in and said, no, he's not in yet. 467 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:33,880 But I said, could I wait? And I said sure. 468 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:35,520 So I sat with my back to the door. 469 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,360 And so a little bit later, you know, he came in. 470 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:39,720 Shoot. The corporal jumped up. 471 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:42,480 Good morning. Eddie's corporal sat down. 472 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,640 So I got up, looked at him. I said, is this where I sign up 473 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,840 to? Is this where I can sign up to 474 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:49,840 enlist? And this guy looked at me for a 475 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:55,120 minute and I mean, his face went white, you know, and he's, he 476 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:57,280 says, helly. I said, yeah. 477 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:58,680 So we hugged each other. We cried. 478 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,480 He took me to the officers club for lunch, which is kind of cool 479 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,600 because I'm a retired Sergeant, you know, and we're talking. 480 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:10,440 I said, Mike, I said, I, I thought I saw you when I was in 481 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,840 the hospital. I said, was that you or was I 482 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,880 just dreaming? And he looked at me for a 483 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,560 moment. He said, you know, because I had 484 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,600 a top sheet or a security clearance, you know, when they 485 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:24,280 want to make sure you don't divulge something. 486 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,840 So he was sent there and he was standard. 487 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,840 He said when I got there, he said they had operate on you, 488 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,200 but they and you are still on the Gurney from the operating 489 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,760 room and they pushed you out into the hallway and laid a body 490 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:42,320 bag over the end of your your Gurney and you know, because you 491 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:48,120 weren't supposed to make it. And he he said and I didn't want 492 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:52,200 to see you die. I never knew how close I had 493 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,520 come. And so in and out of 494 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:58,960 consciousness, 6 days later my brother comes in and I wake up 495 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,040 and I don't know what I look like and, and he walks past my 496 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,320 bed and he stops. Where's the doctor? 497 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,840 Couple beds away. And he says, excuse me Sir. 498 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,680 He said I'm Sergeant Helly's brother, could you tell me where 499 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,440 my brother's AT? And the doctor looked at and put 500 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,120 the chart down and I could hear him. 501 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:18,600 I couldn't turn my head. I could see him out of the 502 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,400 corner of my eye. I said, he said, son, He said, 503 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,200 your brother's going to die. We've done everything we can do. 504 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:28,440 He's not going to make it. And my brother stood there and 505 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,600 he said, well, can I see him? He said, they told me he's in 506 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,240 this ward, but I can't find him. Apparently he had walked past my 507 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,000 bed a couple times. And so the doctor took him by 508 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,880 one arm and a nurse came over on the other side, walked him back 509 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,920 to my bed, stopped and just stood there. 510 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,600 And my brother turned and looked at this massive human rubble 511 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:53,160 laying on the bed, ripped apart 70 some shrapnel wounds, burns, 512 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,440 2 bullet wounds. And he stands there and his face 513 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,800 just went white and he started to to weep. 514 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,160 And he took a step toward my bed and his legs buckled underneath 515 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,480 him and he grabbed the the end of my bed just sobbing. 516 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:15,600 I want to tell you Church, I was I had never been so afraid in my 517 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,920 life. I had, I felt a fear that day 518 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,640 greater than anything on the battlefield. 519 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,240 And I, I was 22 years old, three months for my 23rd birthday and 520 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:31,960 I landed that I said, God, if there really is a God, if you 521 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,280 let me live, I'll do anything you want. 522 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:40,280 And I went to sleep passed out and I can remember off and on 523 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:42,160 over the next few days as I would wake up. 524 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,560 My brother was always there. He was on the floor sleeping or 525 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:48,480 sitting in a chair. One day was one night he got to 526 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,480 sleep in a bed that was not occupied. 527 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:55,800 And he told me some years later, he said about the 10th day, the 528 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,960 doctor took him aside and it would been on the 6th day he got 529 00:29:59,960 --> 00:30:02,240 there. He'd been in the field and he 530 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,000 said the doctor took him aside. He said, he said, Sergeant, your 531 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,640 brother's going to live. He's a mess, but he's going to 532 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,920 live. And it was a few days, about a 533 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,920 week after that before they felt I was strong enough to survive 534 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,960 the flight home. So they put me on a plane. 535 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,440 And on the way to Japan to refuel, I started bleeding 536 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,240 internally. So they took me off the plane, 537 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:27,680 took me to the naval hospital at Yukushka Navy Base in Japan, had 538 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:29,920 five surgeries over a couple weeks. 539 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:32,520 Then they put me on another flight back home. 540 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,800 I got to Chicago, Great Lakes Naval Hospital outside of 541 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,760 Chicago, got into the when they got me, took me in to the triage 542 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,880 to change my bandages. It was taking the bandages off 543 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:48,040 in this foul smell filled the triage room and the doctor 544 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,840 looked at me, said Sonny said you got gangrene in your leg, 545 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:52,200 We're going to have to take it off. 546 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:54,960 That was a rhetorical question. You know, he wasn't I couldn't 547 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:57,480 talk because that was I was not in agreement with that. 548 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,720 And so I'm in over the next few days, I would wake up different 549 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,200 times in that day. And this doctor at a team like 550 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,200 morning, night, middle of the night, this guy was working on 551 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,920 my leg. And one night I woke up, you 552 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:14,480 know, I, I'm a light, I was a light sleeper. 553 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,880 And you know, 1 morning I woke up with startle. 554 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:20,680 Somebody was standing by my bed in the middle of the night. 555 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:22,080 And I looked over here as his doctor. 556 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,880 And when he saw that I was awake, he looked at me, smiled. 557 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:26,920 And I'm almost sure this guy's a Christian. 558 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:32,040 And he, he looked at me and, and he said, Sergeant, he said that 559 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:35,760 Gangrene's gone. And he smiled, kind of shook his 560 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:37,880 head, grinned. He said, you know, that kind of 561 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,720 gangrene just doesn't go away. And he was Navy. 562 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,120 I'm Marines. So Doc, Marines are tough. 563 00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:46,680 That's about all I can say, because I could hardly. 564 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,160 And so he shook his head, walked away. 565 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,640 So then they said one of the bullets had shattered my right 566 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,400 arm and shattered the elbow. And so they said they found a 567 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:57,200 bone infection. So it says we're going to take 568 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,880 the arm off above the elbow to stop the infection from 569 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,200 spreading. And that was not a, you know, 570 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:04,440 they weren't asking my opinion. They were. 571 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,640 So I remember waking up in in recovery. 572 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,640 And as I was waking up in recovery, I realized I was 573 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:15,200 holding my right hand. Navy guys, they like to play 574 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,040 tricks on Marines, you know, So I thought they just didn't throw 575 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,800 the parts away, you know, just parts as parts. 576 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,080 And so, yeah, but then my fingers moved. 577 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,480 And so, you know, so the doctor came in. 578 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,840 He said, you know, he said I was, I was all prepared to 579 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,120 amputate, but something compelled me. 580 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:34,440 They cut it open, you know, for the elbow all the way up. 581 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:37,120 They said something compelled me that we cut it open. 582 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,760 The bone infection is gone. So we did this, this, this and, 583 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,360 you know, medical terms. I have no idea what it was, you 584 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,000 know, And then they began to tell me, OK, you're going to be 585 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:47,520 here two, 2 1/2 years. You're going to have to have 586 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,800 surgery, therapy, recovery, then more surgery, therapy, recovery. 587 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,800 We're going to put pins and plates in your legs. 588 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,000 You're going to have leg braces. You'll have 15% use of your 589 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,320 right arm. You got strap on your eyes cause 590 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:00,160 you to go blind. You won't be able to have any 591 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,320 children. And, you know, kind of on and on 592 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:09,000 they went to encourage me. And, you know, nine months 593 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:14,160 later, 26 operations for plastic surgery operations on my face. 594 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,400 Yeah, I, I didn't always look this good. 595 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,560 Nine months later, I, I walked out of the hospital and I was 596 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:28,800 OK, at least on the outside. And then I went to work for a, a 597 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:31,000 private security investigation company. 598 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,400 I became a professional investigator, you know, wore a 599 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,440 suit tie, you know, and I learned 1971 after I got out of 600 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,360 the hospital of Vietnam, still going, but I could cover up a 601 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,760 lot of wounds. And on the outside, I looked OK. 602 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:51,680 I met my wife, convinced her I was normal, and we got married 603 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,960 anyway. And, you know, and, and for the 604 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:59,280 next two years, I put my wife through her own PTS program. 605 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,240 She has a Purple Heart plate on her car. 606 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,120 There's a reason for that, you know? 607 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:07,400 And two years afterwards, she, you know, she walked out. 608 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,760 She said, I love you, but I can't, you know, you're killing 609 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,280 me too. Well, right before that, we made 610 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:14,800 the mistake of walking into a church. 611 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,239 Now, my stepdad used to take us to a traditional church. 612 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:19,639 You know, we grew up and I don't think you ever should say 613 00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:23,480 anything bad about your, you know, your background and Martin 614 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,600 Luther would be concerned. But you know, that's so. 615 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,560 So anyway, we went to this church that I'd always felt 616 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,320 comfortable in before, and we were ambushed. 617 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:40,600 Ambushed 2 born again spirit filled Lutheran pastors that 618 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:44,880 loved Jesus and they had a group of people in there. 619 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,239 They still had Lutherans, but they had a group of people in 620 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,880 there that were spirit filled, loved us, reached out to us and 621 00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:54,560 we, they asked us to take part in a Bible study And Shirley 622 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:57,240 said, OK, and I looked at her like, you know, what are you 623 00:34:57,240 --> 00:34:58,680 thinking? But so we went to this Bible 624 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,800 study and they had that first night they had icebreaker 625 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,040 questions. You know that to make you feel 626 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:07,400 comfortable when you already know you're not comfortable with 627 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,240 that, like the first time you walked into here and go, who are 628 00:35:10,240 --> 00:35:10,920 they? These people? 629 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,920 So and so I'm trying to think of you understand. 630 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,560 And the last question was, when was God real in your life? 631 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,320 I'm trying to think of something that sounds religious, you know. 632 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,920 I mean, you know, I know peer pressure is just for younger 633 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:23,840 people, but I did want to fit in. 634 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,560 And so the going around a room church never happened before 635 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:29,160 since. But as I was sitting in that 636 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,280 room with these nine other couples, I was lifted up out of 637 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:37,480 that room and I was looking down in another room and I saw a man 638 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,840 laying on a bed, bloody and bleeding. 639 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:46,240 And I heard him say, God, if you let me live, I'll do anything 640 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:48,120 you want. And I was back in that room with 641 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,000 a mirror in front of my face. Spiritually, I looked in that 642 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,200 mirror. I saw a phony. 643 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,920 I didn't like that person I saw. Now I realize God had spared my 644 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:57,000 life. Why? 645 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:02,640 But it took my wife walking out. That brought me to rock bottom. 646 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:07,320 We are separated 10 days. We were living in Omaha at the 647 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,360 time and you know, we decided to get together. 648 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:13,240 You know, we wanted our divorce to be amicable, you know, be 649 00:36:13,240 --> 00:36:17,000 friends that kind of and I like my version of it. 650 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,440 We met in a public place. I live in the South and you 651 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,600 know, he needed killing is a good it's justifiable, you know, 652 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:28,200 to and I needed killing. But we met and surely, yeah, we 653 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,280 knew these people had something different. 654 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,480 And Shirley said unless we put God first, we're not going to 655 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,880 make it. And I said, I know that, but how 656 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:38,600 do you do this? We went to her apartment. 657 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,080 I moved her out so quick so I could try to have fun again. 658 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:44,200 Did not have fun. And we moved to went to her 659 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,160 apartment and knelt by the bed and just cried out. 660 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:51,920 I said, God, what's missing? And the still small voice of the 661 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:56,120 Holy Spirit spoke and said, it's not what's missing, it's who's 662 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:58,280 missing. You need Jesus. 663 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,000 I didn't do this right. You know, I never watched 664 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,880 Christian TV. You know, somebody was said, 665 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:04,760 Amen. At our church. 666 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:06,680 That pastor would have been scared half to death. 667 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,280 And and so I, I probably didn't do this right. 668 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:13,400 But thank God that the word of God says whoever calls upon the 669 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,640 name of the Lord will be saved. I said, God, you know what's 670 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:21,640 been said that what's been but who's been I said, Lord, if you 671 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,520 can use somebody like me here I am. 672 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:26,760 And, and you know some of these veterans here, you know, every 673 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:29,160 morning when I got up with some of you who have been hurt and 674 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:32,120 wounded, every morning when I got up, I felt like I strapped 675 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:36,360 100 lbs of emotional combat gear on my back. 676 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:41,480 I carried this weight of guilt, of shame, of hate, of 677 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:45,000 bitterness, of unforgettable. I carried this weight around 678 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,200 every single day for 4 1/2 years. 679 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,200 And that night I said that simple prayer, the weight fell 680 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,720 off of me. And if I thought that, if I 681 00:37:56,720 --> 00:37:59,360 doubted that anything had changed when I went to bed that 682 00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:03,760 night and closed my eyes, I slept for the first time in 4 683 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:08,120 1/2 years. No nightmares of Vietnam since. 684 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:18,500 Or I did have a, a bad dream one night that I was in the church, 685 00:38:18,500 --> 00:38:21,980 something like this, and I was preaching and I was so boring I 686 00:38:21,980 --> 00:38:23,580 fell asleep. But that was a, you know. 687 00:38:24,220 --> 00:38:30,400 But that was A and I need to. So God changed our life. 688 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:32,680 He healed my body. He healed our marriage. 689 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:34,960 Surely. I've been married for 52 years, 690 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,040 8 months and 22 days. Not that I'm counting. 691 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:43,680 I have two children that the doctor said I'd never have. 692 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:47,680 I have 5 grandchildren and 1 great granddaughter who's about 693 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,760 four months old. Shortly after I became a 694 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:52,640 Christian. You know, when I was medevaced 695 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:56,840 out of Vietnam when that plane lifted up and they would have to 696 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,520 accelerate as fast as they can because sometimes the enemy 697 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,080 would be at the end of the runway and shoot at aircraft 698 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:03,440 taken off. And you know, you're at a 699 00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:05,160 medevac flash. You know, last thing you do is 700 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,200 get shot again. And, and I was on a stretcher, 701 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,680 probably about 3 or 4 off of the off of the high. 702 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:17,080 And but it's a plane tilted to go over Danang Bay to Vietnam's 703 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:19,000 a beautiful country. And I'm looking down the 704 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:22,640 beautiful beaches, the fishing boats out there, the mountains, 705 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,920 the, you know, the green trees and is it? 706 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:31,360 But I looked out that window and in my mind I never wanted to 707 00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:38,120 ever see Vietnam again. Never, because it was too 708 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:41,520 painful. Shortly after I became a 709 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:47,120 Christian and got saved in early December 7475, maybe February, 710 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:51,360 March, I looked at Shirley and I said, I think I'm supposed to go 711 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:55,600 back to Vietnam. Well, April 30th, 50 years ago, 712 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,840 Vietnam fell and they were shut off from the outside world. 713 00:39:59,840 --> 00:40:05,520 Nobody was going to Vietnam. For 14 years, I'd go to missions 714 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:09,280 conference, I talked to WYWAM people, I talked to anybody that 715 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:11,920 was going to Asia. What is going on in Vietnam? 716 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:18,360 Nothing. And so 1988, Shirley and I had 717 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,400 the the honor of going to focus on the family doctor, James 718 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:24,000 Dobson. He was still in California and 719 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,200 Doctor Dobson was doing, we're going to tape 3A series of three 720 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:31,600 radio programs on PTS. They call it PTSDI, Don't call 721 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:35,760 it PTSDI, call it PTS. Cause a disorder means there's 722 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:39,440 something wrong with you having the wounds of, of, of, of 723 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,080 whether it be Vietnam or abuse or rejection. 724 00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,160 That's not a, that's not a disorder. 725 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:48,160 That's your system reacting to what's it, what's not a normal 726 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:50,120 situation. That's just my opinion. 727 00:40:50,240 --> 00:40:52,000 But when you get to heaven, you'll see I was right. 728 00:40:54,680 --> 00:41:00,080 And so we're on this program and Doctor Dobson's interview and 729 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,520 several other veterans. And he said to one of them, he 730 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:05,040 said, Bill, I understand you just got back from Vietnam. 731 00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,760 And I said, yeah. I said, I believe that God gave 732 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,600 me a heart to take Christian Vietnam Veterans back to with a 733 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:15,320 message of reconciliation. You know, we all know 2nd 734 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:20,200 Corinthians 517, you know, if any person is in Christ or a new 735 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:23,120 creation, the old passes away, all things become new. 736 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,560 The next verse says, therefore, since we have been given this 737 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:31,280 ministry of reconciliation, as I believe God wants veterans, 738 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:34,400 Christian veterans to take a message of reconciliation to our 739 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:38,520 former enemy. And then, you know, we, I said, 740 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:41,720 I said to him, what do you get? You guys have any plans tonight? 741 00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:44,960 You know, after, after we take part, can we take you out to 742 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:46,680 dinner? So we're talking about he's 743 00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:48,720 sharing his heart with me and my heart's burning. 744 00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:50,840 And he says, he just looks at me. 745 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,360 He says, you want to go? And I said, yeah, you know, pick 746 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:58,280 Shirley up off the floor. And several months later, 14 or 747 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:04,680 23 years after my first trip to Vietnam, I'm on a plane, I'm in 748 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:09,000 my 40s, and I'm going back with a camera bag and the gospel. 749 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:12,680 And I could tell you so many stories about what God has done. 750 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:14,680 I want to just tell one story in closing. 751 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:16,600 And then we're going to minister. 752 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:21,880 We took on a bunch of projects. We, we did some churches, but 753 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:26,440 our favorite, the beginning was a polio orphanage, 450 children 754 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:30,480 with polio, handmade braces. You know, these kids, we would 755 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:35,920 take toys and, and balloons and, you know, some clothing to these 756 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,200 kids and they were so happy. They had nothing. 757 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,200 They were so happy. But you know, and they just, you 758 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,320 know, here's you want to see a bunch of hardened veterans just 759 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:48,240 sob every time we left that orphanage after we had visited, 760 00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:50,400 you know, we're just got tears running down our eyes. 761 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,680 And so we had done a product, we repaired their therapy pool that 762 00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:58,240 hadn't worked since 75. And so we were negotiating. 763 00:42:58,240 --> 00:43:01,240 I was a team leader. So I had I was meeting with the 764 00:43:01,240 --> 00:43:04,440 communist officials that were over all the social services, 765 00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:07,480 you know, for Saigon. Saigon was a city of about 9 766 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:12,160 million at the time. And so we were veterans, we were 767 00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:15,000 Christians, we made no, we didn't hide that at all. 768 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,600 And so, and the all the communist officials were former 769 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,440 soldiers, you know. And so we started, they always 770 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:24,480 ask you, when were you here? Where did you serve? 771 00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:29,040 Whatever. And so as we're talking, the man 772 00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:34,240 over all the social services in 1966, we were on an operation on 773 00:43:34,240 --> 00:43:37,720 the DMZ, walked into a regimental base camp at for five 774 00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:40,160 days. We fought literally at times 775 00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:43,600 hand to hand to fight our way out of that, out of that, that 776 00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:46,360 jungle, nearly half my company was wiped out. 777 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:49,920 And as we were talking, the man that's in charge of social is 778 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:52,920 the was the regimental commander of that unit. 779 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,400 Asian culture has a thing called face saving. 780 00:43:56,840 --> 00:44:01,400 We had just made him look good. And now he realized I had some 781 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:06,080 painful memories because of what his men did, you know, during 782 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:10,080 during the war. And so he looked through the 783 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:11,320 interpreter. We had interpreters. 784 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:13,520 Her name was Hen. She was a Buddhist, Buddhist 785 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,840 girl. And he said, why do you come? 786 00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:19,040 Why do you do this for the people of Vietnam? 787 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:22,800 He said, we had the Ford Foundation here and, and, you 788 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,080 know, they said, Oh yeah, we want to help the people of 789 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:26,720 Vietnam. We showed them all the needs and 790 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:28,360 we've, we've never seen them again. 791 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:31,640 And then we had the the Carnegie Foundation, same thing. 792 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,160 We showed them all the, Oh yeah, we wanted, and they never came 793 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:35,920 back. You know, this may seem like a 794 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:39,400 small thing to you, but it's not to us. 795 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:41,920 Why do you do this? And so I looked at him and I 796 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:46,640 said, Sir, I said, Jesus Christ has healed all the painful 797 00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:48,720 memories that I experienced in Vietnam. 798 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,600 And because of that, I can say that I love you and Jesus loves 799 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:53,880 you. Now. 800 00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:57,640 There was about 12 communist officials on the other side of 801 00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,440 the table and three of us, him started weeping. 802 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:03,120 My interpreter just started bawling. 803 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:05,640 And they're looking at us, looking at her looking at us 804 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,960 like, what did you you know, And we're like, like awkward. 805 00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:11,240 Wasn't still a term yet, but it was awkward. 806 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,840 And then after a couple minutes, she finally got her emotions 807 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:16,680 under control and she asked me a question. 808 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:18,800 And so she told the Colonel what I said. 809 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:19,960 He looked at her and looked at me. 810 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,200 Look, he got up and he come around the long term. 811 00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:25,680 So I got up and he come up to me, looked up at me. 812 00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,120 I'm 64. Most of the Vietnamese are not, 813 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:32,280 you know, And it just threw his arms around me and had tears 814 00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:39,600 streaming down his eyes. And I'm kind of, you know, and 815 00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,720 afterwards, you know, I mean, we just hugged each other for the 816 00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:44,640 longest time. And it's, and he looked at him 817 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:49,200 and said something and she said, he asked me to tell you that 818 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:53,920 he's never had an enemy tell him he loved him. 819 00:45:55,960 --> 00:46:00,440 Only Jesus, only Jesus. The video, there's a video, 5 820 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,760 1/2 minute video of that story that's had one and a half 821 00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:08,960 million hits on the Internet. And it's not about me. 822 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:11,160 I remember the first time they called said Roger, that videos 823 00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:15,160 had over 1,000,000 views and hundreds of thousands of of 824 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:18,880 people got the next step to know about Jesus. 825 00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:21,800 Not that's not about me. Because we live in a world where 826 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:23,360 there's a lot of people that are hurting. 827 00:46:23,640 --> 00:46:26,360 There's a lot of people. One, they need to know that they 828 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:30,160 can be forgiven, and two, that they know no matter what they've 829 00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,480 experienced, what they've gone through, what they've been, what 830 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:37,360 what has happened to them, that God will give you the ability to 831 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:40,560 forgive others no matter what they've done. 832 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:43,040 Thanks for listening to our podcast. 833 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,560 If you'd like to help more people hear this message, you 834 00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:48,200 can get the word out by subscribing and sharing it on 835 00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:50,520 social media. If you'd like to support the 836 00:46:50,520 --> 00:46:53,360 ministries of Heartland Church, you can do so at Heartland 837 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:55,560 Church online.com/give.