Replies: 53
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Orange Immortal [68178]
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60
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50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 4:26 PM
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Well almost - one passed all the way through my left thigh longways. Went in the back of my leg just above my knee and came out the front just below the hip joint shattering several inches of bone. Choppered off the side of a mountain in the darkest of nights to a field hospital in Duc Pho and then to Da Nang when they saw I needed a vein graft. The only thing the bullet missed in my leg was the femoral artery which would have made me bleed out in a couple of minutes - I even waited a bit to call the medic because I knew he couldn't do much if that was the case. The bullet to my arm had come through a small tree first and left splinters and part of the bullet in my biceps and elbow areas ( still can see and feel the metal just under my skin right in the joint). I wouldn't have bet much that I would see a 50th anniversary of that event while waiting for the chopper. It's a great day to be a Tiger - 50 years of smiles.
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Oculus Spirit [39330]
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Hope They Gave You an Oak Leaf Cluster For The Second Wound
Sep 28, 2020, 4:32 PM
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My S-1 / G-1 staff always pushed back on multiple wounds claiming they came in the same instant. If it hurts more than once it counts in my book.
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Orange Immortal [68178]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Heck - it took 38 years and a letter to Lindsay Graham's
Sep 28, 2020, 4:36 PM
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office before the Army awarded the Purple Heart at all. Also had paperwork lost from a minor wound that happened a couple of months before this event.
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Oculus Spirit [39330]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Sounds Like The Army Process Still Working as Designed***
Sep 28, 2020, 4:37 PM
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Clemson Conqueror [11925]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: Heck - it took 38 years and a letter to Lindsay Graham's
Sep 28, 2020, 5:19 PM
[ in reply to Heck - it took 38 years and a letter to Lindsay Graham's ] |
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That is ridiculous having to wait that long. The Marine Corps messed up my end of tour award and have often though about trying to correct it, but not sure I will ever get around to it. I feel self-conscious about having to work on your own award. In your case I sure would not have felt bad about it. It should of at least been awarded when you were in the hospital. I was in the Naval Hospital in Guam and my roommate had been shot through the calf after being in country only two weeks. It the round did not hit anything except flesh and muscle ....... no bone. He was awarded the Purple Heart, but also got to wear the VN Campaign Ribbon (which normally required you to be in country 6 months), as well as other ribbons ....... plus he got to go home! Earlier, it took 3 Purple Hearts to come home.
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Orange Immortal [68178]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2008
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We had one guy get 3 Purple Hearts - all were
Sep 28, 2020, 5:24 PM
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barely flesh wounds but he got to go home. When my DD214 was corrected , they left off my Expert Award for shooting the M-14 in Basic Training that they had actually given to me earlier . Oh Well... I still have it in my shadow box beside my airborne wings. They didn't leave that one out.
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Walk-On [114]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 4:33 PM
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Thanks for your service to our great nation. God Bless you on this auspicious anniversary. Go Tigers!!
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Solid Orange [1307]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 4:33 PM
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Great story! Thank you for your service and God bless!!!
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Orange Blooded [4142]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 4:35 PM
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I’m sure your family is glad you survived and I know all of fellow Tigers are too . Thanks for serving our country .
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Orange Immortal [68178]
TigerPulse: 100%
60
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Joined: 2008
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 4:37 PM
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I know my son and grandkids are - they wouldn't exist if I hadn't made it.
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Orange Phenom [14770]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 4:38 PM
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Always enjoy Clover65...
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Dynasty Maker [3585]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Thank you for your service!
Sep 28, 2020, 5:03 PM
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This sounds so painful! Glad you were able to recover from that!
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Solid Orange [1339]
TigerPulse: 98%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 5:12 PM
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Thank you for service and all that you have done since your return. I often see guys with Purple Heart car tags and wonder what their story is. Maybe if everyone knew the stories like you just told, there would be a lot more well-deserved respect for veterans.
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Commissioner [1254]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 5:18 PM
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Thank you for your service to the USA!
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Legend [6770]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 5:25 PM
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God love you sir! So grateful for your survival and courage defending our nations interests. Thank heaven you are here to tell the story. Enjoy every moment you have been blessed to have!
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Ultimate Clemson Legend [98266]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2009
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Thx & a Salute for your service under fire clover65!
Sep 28, 2020, 5:36 PM
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Can’t imagine being shot at & wounded so severely either!
Gotta give some TU’s to those hospital Corpsmen, Docs & Medical Teams along with the Chopper Pilots!
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Solid Orange [1341]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: Thx & a Salute for your service under fire clover65!
Sep 28, 2020, 6:45 PM
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and on that note, I have a good friend who was a Chopper Pilot in the war, troop insertion and extraction and medical evac. He'd just nod his head and say yeah, did that, but of course would never talk about it. Great guy, his name is Haskell M. He and his wife were in our Shag Club and great company at SOS, etc. He made a boat load of bucks in the textile industry in the Upstate (Spartanburg) before it all went bust and it moved to Mexico and China and elsewhere. Now he owns a couple of restaurants. He can smoke a pig and make a sauce that'll make your tongue hard!
All respect and thanks to everyone who served! As a 1-A with a low no. in '74, I missed my own conscription "by that much...." I was in Clemson University at the time which might have saved me. Had several classmates who lost there lives there.
God Bless America, and all our service men and women!!!
and Go Tigers!
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All-TigerNet [12666]
TigerPulse: 86%
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Joined: 2011
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Thank you for your courage and bravery.
Sep 28, 2020, 5:42 PM
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Forever grateful.
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Orange Blooded [4444]
TigerPulse: 100%
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THANK YOU for taking one (or two) for the team!***
Sep 28, 2020, 5:42 PM
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Respect!!!
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Top TigerNet [29185]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: THANK YOU for taking one (or two) for the team!***
Sep 28, 2020, 5:54 PM
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Thank you for your service. I was in your same time period. Draft lottery kept me out. Viet-Nam veterans are the most overlooked military veterans in the entire U.S. It was not a popular war because it was fought only for political reasons. Lyndon Baines Johnson, I'm sure, is still answering for that. He wanted a war victory in his historical resume and kept ours guys over there dying for no reason.
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Clemson Conqueror [11925]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: THANK YOU for taking one (or two) for the team!***
Sep 28, 2020, 11:40 PM
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That is not exactly true about it being fought only for political reasons. Our involvement in Indochina (Viet Nam) started in the early 1900's and by the time the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 we were up to our eyeballs flying 90% of the re-supply missions for that battle and supplying the French with much of their equipment. All wars have a political element, but there were a number of reasons were were involved there. Read "Embers of War" by Fredrik Logvall if you really want to understand what was going on.
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Varsity [120]
TigerPulse: 99%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 6:03 PM
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Thank you for your service good sir!
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Legend [6638]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 6:14 PM
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Hey man, God bless you, you earned your stripes, not Like John Kerry who was outed by the Swift Boats to be a self serving #astard and then went back state side and called all of you baby killers!!
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Heisman Winner [84343]
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Joined: 2017
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 11:25 AM
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Hall of Famer [22127]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 6:23 PM
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Thanks for your service Clover. Glad you are still around after 50 years.
One of my neighbors here at Clemson Downs passed away a couple of years ago. Just a few months before his death he was finally awarded his medals from WW2. A fire many years ago in a building in St. Louis destroyed the records of many WW2 veterans, including mine
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Solid Orange [1341]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 7:12 PM
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My dad served in WWII in the 3rd Army and actually volunteered to rescue a Captain off a hill that had been under mortar fire for 3 days and who was too terrified to leave his fox hole when the replacements came in. My dad was told it was a suicide mission, but he went just the same and managed to come back with the Captain unscathed. This Captain told my dad that he would see to it that he received the Silver Star for his action. My dad knew at the time that this officer was shell shocked out of his mind, and of course, he never got his Silver Star, or any other commendation.
My dad actually witnessed his six best friends killed in action during the war and lived "survivor's guilt" for the rest of his life. I would hear his nightmares.... However, he and my mom raised (or reared) three great children (if can include myself!)
Thanks, Joe21, and all Tigers of challenge and adversity!!!
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Game Day Hero [4339]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 6:39 PM
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Congratulations on your amazing 50 years! Thanks for answering the call and being a hero! God bless!
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Heisman Winner [78706]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2018
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 6:48 PM
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You know what I’m going to say, right?
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110%er [9905]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 6:49 PM
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You’re supposed to let those go on their way! Glad they missed your femoral artery and you made it through!
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Gridiron Giant [15467]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 7:01 PM
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Thank you for serving our country in what was an unpopular war. The military hates war more than anyone, but goes where directed, which is the way it has to be. Although I am a veteran, I did not serve in combat. One always wonders how you would measure up. From talking to my friends who did serve in Vietnam and from talking to WWII, Korean War, Iraq and Afghanistan vets, I have always been impressed with the randomness of the difference between injury, death and walking away physically unharmed. That in itself has to be a bit of a mind trip. I am grateful you survived and and have enjoyed a good life back in the greatest country on Earth. Thank you is so inadequate!
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Game Day Hero [4212]
TigerPulse: 63%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 7:03 PM
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Thank you for your service and glad you are alive
Unfortunately I know people who died and also died years later from agent orange
God Bless
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TigerNet Elite [75041]
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Joined: 1998
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 7:42 PM
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congrats on surviving that ordeal and for your service
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Clemson Conqueror [11314]
TigerPulse: 100%
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A true 110%er. Thank you for serving our great nation.***
Sep 28, 2020, 8:06 PM
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Valley Legend [12375]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Posts: 12637
Joined: 2003
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may God continue to bless you and i thank you for your
Sep 28, 2020, 9:20 PM
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service. "all gave some, some gave all!"
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Paw Warrior [4752]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Thank you and I hope God
Sep 28, 2020, 9:41 PM
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continues to bless you.
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All-TigerNet [10134]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 28, 2020, 10:00 PM
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Thank you for your service sir! Let’s love a life worth so many’s sacrifice!
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Clemson Sports Icon [59136]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2011
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Thank you for your service.
Sep 29, 2020, 7:22 AM
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God bless you.
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Clemson Sports Icon [57283]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Posts: 44569
Joined: 2003
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Clover...I am gonna make you 2 vinegar pies for this
Sep 29, 2020, 8:24 AM
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Saturday. I will meet you in Ware Place if that is close enough or even Princeton.....Say about 10 am? Give me a call if that works for you........
Spud
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TigerNet Legend [147492]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2010
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Thank you.***
Sep 29, 2020, 8:34 AM
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Valley Protector [1423]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 11:15 AM
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Thanks for your service and sacrifice! Your stories are always interesting.
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Oculus Spirit [40810]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Posts: 18562
Joined: 2015
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Thank you for serving our country and I’m glad you lived to
Sep 29, 2020, 11:36 AM
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Celebrate 50 years since.
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All-In [10499]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 11:54 AM
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Thank you all for your service.
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Orange Blooded [2992]
TigerPulse: 91%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 12:08 PM
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Good story, thanks! Glad you made it back!
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TigerNet Icon [160594]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2012
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Glad you survived and I'm honored to call you a friend.
Sep 29, 2020, 12:39 PM
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I can't imagine what was going through your mind. The pain and uncertainty of the future. Keep sharing as we all love reading your posts.
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Varsity [137]
TigerPulse: 64%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 12:57 PM
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Isn't it ironic that 50-60 years ago it was mainly the Democrats in Washington that got us into the Vietnam War. Today, however, the Democrats are embracing that very philosophy for which they sent you to die!
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Orange Elite [5435]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 1:04 PM
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God bless you sir!
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All-In [10961]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 1:09 PM
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thank the GOOD LORD you made it.every day,no matter what,should be a treasure.i once asked an elderly gentleman how he was doing.he replied:"i'm on the sunny side of the dirt.it's a good day".that has been my philosophy ever since.
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Letterman [287]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 1:36 PM
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Thank you for sharing your bad memories with us. Your service and sacrifice are appreciated more than you'll ever know. Thank God you survived to share with us! God bless!
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110%er [6938]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 2:36 PM
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Love you for your service to our wonderful country!
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Orange Beast [6254]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 5:23 PM
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Thank You Clover65 for your stories but Thank You alot more for Your Service and Sacrifice. Glad You are still with us.
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Varsity [203]
TigerPulse: 99%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 7:43 PM
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Bless you for a LONG and happy life. Thank you for preserving our blessed freedom.God Bless America.
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Varsity [203]
TigerPulse: 99%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 7:43 PM
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Bless you for a LONG and happy life. Thank you for preserving our blessed freedom.God Bless America.
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Varsity [203]
TigerPulse: 99%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 7:43 PM
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Bless you for a LONG and happy life. Thank you for preserving our blessed freedom.God Bless America.
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Varsity [203]
TigerPulse: 99%
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Re: 50 years ago today - Vietnam - I stopped 2 bullets
Sep 29, 2020, 7:43 PM
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Bless you for a LONG and happy life. Thank you for preserving our blessed freedom.God Bless America.
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Replies: 53
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