Valor: strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery. I cannot imagine facing death as part of my daily job but this is what our military members face every day. We have some amazing IU alumni that have done just that. Here are their thoughts about Memorial Day. I know you will be touched by the acts of courage in their stories.
Ronald Wasburn, (Retired Lt. Colonel), BS’80, IUPUI
“Memorial Day as always been special for my family. I can remember when during this time the family would have a reunion and on or around Memorial Day they would go and place flowers on all the family grave sites. The men would set around talking, some about current events and some about remembering their service. They would tell stories of their experiences. Us young ones were not allowed to hear these stories. I knew all my uncles served as well as my dad and brother, but I did not know what they did or where they served. Later after I went into the army and went to Vietnam as a 2d LT and served in the 1st. Cav Div. during Dec 67 through Dec 68 that they would let me in on their talks. I had seen the elephant. Then I learned Uncle Dale was a tanker with Patton and drove a DD tank (had propellers on the back) onto the beach at D Day, Uncle Liman was in the 82d and jumped into Normandy and Uncle Leroy was in the 101st. My dad was a medic in the Pacific and my brother was in the Navy and was wounded when his plane was shot up bombing a Jap island. Others on my mother’s side also served and they joined in the reunion and told stories of their exploits.
I served from March 1966 to May 1994 and retired as a LTC. My top 4 awards are the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with V device and the Purple Heart. I also have jump wings and the CIB.”
Gary Huested (Retired Major), MA’75, IU Bloomington
“May, not April, is the cruelest month to me….. On May 4, 1970 at Kent State University, the Ohio National Guard fired on student demonstrators, protesting Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia, killing four and wounding nine, shootings…. I wasn’t at Kent State on that day. On May 7th, I air assaulted into Cambodia as an artillery forward observer with a 1st Cavalry Division infantry company…. it remains the end of the cruelest month, a time not only of remembering my brothers and sisters who have served and fallen, but also of the innocent Kent State students who died, and to tell them all, once again, that I haven’t forgotten them.”
Robert Phillips (Retired Colonel), BA’71, IU Bloomington
“Memorial Day is a very special day to me. My father flew 35 combat missions as a tail gunner in a B-17 in the ETO and my 7 uncles were all WWII vets. I am an IU grad commissioned through ROTC as a 2LT in the US Army Infantry and served 30 years in the USAR retiring as a COL in the JAGC. My oldest daughter served in the USMC with two deployments in Iraq.”
Tom Large (Major), MD’01, IUPUI
“I spent 4 1/2 years on active duty with the US Air Force. I am a Major, currently in the Inactive Ready Reserve. I deployed twice to Bagram, Afghanistan where I worked as an orthopedic trauma surgeon at the Level III combat theater hospital, which is typically the busiest hospital in Afghanistan. I performed over 700 surgeries in Afghanistan and saw first-hand the devastating injuries our troops experience. I guess that I would say that I have a unique slide show that plays in my brain on Memorial Day, perhaps one of the more striking images is when all available personnel on base would line the street at attention when a deceased service member’s body would convoy through on their way home.”
Chuck Bultmann (Former Captain), MBA’85, IUPUI
“Memorial Day always takes me back to LZ Grant in Tay Ninh Province on March 8, 1969, it was the night our TOC (Tactical Operations Center) took a direct hit from a rocket fired by the North Vietnamese and the beginning of an attempt to overrun LZ Grant. I was not in the TOC at the time, but knew something was wrong, when I got there, our Commanding Officer was dead at my feet, another Officer was dying and I picked him up and he died in my arms. Throughout this chaos I looked up and saw the American Flag flying through the hole in roof of the TOC and that image ha s remained with me for the past 45 years.
So Memorial Day always takes me back to that night and the Flag, whenever the National Anthem is played, I see that flag, been a season ticket holder at the Indy 500 for over 30 years and all they do pre-race for the Armed Services takes me back to that night.
I was lucky I came home without any injuries or medical problems, but I did come home with that image and horrible night on LZ Grant in my brain for life.”
Phillip Zook, BS’69, MS’74, EdS’75, MS’77, (Former Army Captain), IU Bloomington
“I graduated from Indiana University in January 1969. By December of 1969 I was with an Infantry Company of the First Cavalry Division in South Vietnam. Typical of most infantry units we saw our share of combat, but April and May of 1970 was extremely hard on Charlie Company. On Sunday the 24th of May the company made contact with the enemy in a large bunker complex and our point man was killed. As we withdrew at night fall we had sustained 5 men killed and 26 wounded, I was one of the wounded. The Company medevaced the wounded that night and the next day, so on the fourth Monday in May I found myself on a gurney headed into an operating room at the 24th Evacuation Hospital. Three or four days later I was shipped to 249th General Hospital in Japan and headed into a operating room again.
As I came out of the anesthesia, among the white bandages was something red attached to my finger. “What’s this?” I asked the nurse. “Memorial Day Red Poppy. You know about them, don’t you? It’s the 30th, Memorial Day. You know they are changing it to a Monday soon,” she said as she moved to the next bed.
“I think I’ll keep my Memorial Day on the 30th,” I said to myself.
When the 30th of May comes it will be my 44th since that day in Japan.”
As you can see, the experiences these fellow IU alumni have had are indescribable. They are amazing acts of bravery, strength, and tragic loss. If I could have a fraction of their bravery, it would be more than enough.
Our last series of Memorial Day stories will talk about honor. We need to always remember to honor our fellow Americans and fellow alumni that gave the ultimate sacrifice. We need to keep them on our minds and close to our hearts every Memorial Day.