- [Announcer] On this episode of "Postcards."

- And I said, "Staff Sargent, there'd been a hell of a mistake.

We don't know anything about this infantry so, we're 11 Charlie.

We're mortar men."

And he said, "Don't worry, young fella."

So I'm thinking he's listening, you know.

The next words you will learn real quick.

(gunshots ring out) - And I thought to myself, "Oh no."

(lively music) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yagle-Juline on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's arts calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central, Minnesota, on the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits.

96.7 kram, online at 967kram.com.

- How did I cope with them telling me that I probably would never or that I would never walk again?

You know, what kinda life are you gonna lead as a paraplegic.

And I'm, I thought I could probably do anything.

Probably might take me a little longer.

And then at times you worried, hey, what are you gonna do?

Are you gonna go to school?

You know, are you gonna be a productive citizen?

You know, are you gonna marry anybody?

(dramatic music) - How did I end up in Vietnam War is where I was drafted.

You had a two year commitment.

We didn't know, hey, are we gonna end up in Vietnam?

Or will we be stateside?

Or, you know, some of 'em were shipped to Germany.

My father was a World War II vet and a lot of our uncles were World War II vets.

And we were raised in a small community.

I mean, it just seems like a lot of the veterans there was both American Legion and the VFW post there.

And I guess we didn't, you know, I'm thinking, hey you're gonna commit a year.

You had a 12 month duty in Vietnam and you're gonna be back home.

- We were all told, you know, if you're gonna amount to anything, you should go to college.

And I started college and I was in there for three months and I looked out the window one day and sun was shining in and I thought, "What in the world am I doing here?"

And I got up and I went and volunteered for the draft.

Because that was, if I wouldn't have, they would've just drafted me whenever my name come up.

Since I was not in school.

We met the night, that afternoon I got on the bus in Brooking, South Dakota where I live now.

Two young kids riding on a bus for 50 minutes an hour.

- Yeah.

- You know, then the next day, well, I went out partying that night and then they couldn't get me up.

I was too drunk.

They couldn't get me up at seven o'clock to get down to the induction station.

So he knew who I was because I was missing.

- Yeah.

You and, I can't think of that other kid's name.

- From Arlington.

- Yeah.

- And so anyway, I got down there and they were chewing me out, you know.

And like I cared.

I said, "What are you gonna do to send me to Vietnam?"

(lively music) We got to Vietnam.

We were in Cameron Bay and with the orders, we waited for two days for our orders to come down, to see where we were going.

And we both were on the same set of orders.

- Our names came up on the border and it said fourth ID up in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

(upbeat music continues) We were trained though as mortar men so we're thinking we're gonna be at a base camp fire support base.

We're not gonna be out in the jungle.

So we go to Camp Enari, right outside of Pleiku.

We meet, there was probably 25 replacements.

And of course this E7, the Staff Sergeant said, "Welcome to Vietnam.

You're all infantry."

And of course, right away, I raised my hand 'cause I'm thinking, well, we don't know anything about infantry, Lyle and myself and I said, "Staff Sargent, there's been a hell of a mistake.

We don't know anything about this infantry.

So we're 11 Charlie.

We're mortar men."

And he said, "Don't worry, young fella."

So I'm thinking he's listening, you know.

The next words, you will learn real quick.

(gunshots ring out) - And I thought to myself, "Oh no."

'Cause I knew where I was going to be for the next year.

And I thought we are in a lot of trouble here.

And so that's how we got to the jungle of Vietnam.

And then we didn't come out of the jungle.

I came out of the jungle, out of 12 months I spent 10 and a half months in the jungle.

(upbeat music) (dramatic music) - But then after being there about a week and a half in the Bush, Barney, my Sergeant said, "You're going with Loveless on a four man alert team."

And I said, "Okay, I said four men?

What's an alert team?"

He said, "Long range reconnaissance patrol."

When I'm thinking too, four guys, I mean, you know, you probably just go out in the morning, come back towards evening.

So I said, "You just go out for one day."

And Barney said, "No Murphy, you go out at least four days."

I said, "Just with four guys?"

He said, "Don't worry.

Loveless will break you in."

Yeah and right away, I'm thinking, you know, what did we get into?

Your butt's on the line.

You're, you know, I mean, yeah, you want to survive this.

We used to call the USA the world, you know.

You want to go back to the world.

- You didn't know what was gonna happen any morning you got up.

You got up and we had our work to do, you know, whether the whole company was moving or a four man patrol role was moving.

You had no idea what that day was gonna be.

You had no idea if you were going to get into a battle or if you weren't.

But you had a job to do and if you lost focus on that job, there was a good chance you were gonna be in trouble.

Our gear that we were carrying was about 110 pounds.

And so about a 100 degrees.

And we were in triple canopy.

So you'd very seldom ever seen the sun, the sun was always out.

But you were soaking wet all day long, every day, because if it wasn't raining and you were soaking wet from raining, you were soaking wet from sweating.

There was centipedes and there was spiders and there were leaches, mosquitoes.

The mosquitoes were so big that they would a attack right through your poncho liners.

And they'd just, it was a terrible environment.

(dramatic music continues) When Gene got hit, you know, that was the nightmare that we hoped would never happen.

- We were on a search and destroy mission company element.

Roughly, we were a hundred guys, probably should have been 140.

We were moving through this area and it was, to me it went north to Kon Tum, south of Dak To.

I mean a jungle.

I mean, so, and we had orders, hey if we don't run into anything today, they're gonna chopper us out.

(dramatic music) - I was leading the company that day.

My squad was on point.

And I had to lead the company to the next night location, all geared up.

But just going a straight line meant we had to go up a very steep hill, which I knew we couldn't do.

It was wet time of the year.

And so it'd be muddy.

I turned and went in the direction that I felt was the best.

And we ran into steps cut into the hill and I thought, this isn't good.

And we really had no choice so we took the steps and went up the hill.

Well, come around this tree.

And these guys took off.

- My Lieutenant said, "Murph, we're gonna take your squad and try to track this guy."

And I said, "Well, let's move."

But only half my squad showed up and over half Roblard, this other Sergeant, squad.

And then he told me, he said, "Murph, you don't have to go.

'cause you're getting short."

And I said, "No, you're taking half my men.

I'll go with them."

Well, and we just took off and I ended up walking point and probably shouldn't have been.

And we walked probably 400 meters and we ran in, I mean, and the guy that actually shot me was only, I didn't at see him at first, he was only about 20 feet from me.

And he popped out of a spider hole.

Then he shot me and then he shot my platoon Sergeant.

He shot me twice through the right side.

And I thought he blew my legs off.

'Cause I went numb right away from the waist down.

I thought it was actually gonna die.

And I seen the faces that I'd met in my lifetime.

I mean, with just their faces and they floated above me.

My grandmother, this was April 20th, is I always call my alive day, that the good Lord let me live.

But my grandmother had just died in March.

Now she was above me.

And I even said to the Lord, "Lord, I don't want to go yet.

And I got things I want to do."

And I guess I always think him and I made a pack that, hey, you're gonna go back to the world but you gotta do some good things.

You don't go back there and you don't, you know, I guess you don't drink.

You don't get on drugs.

You know, he be a productive citizen.

And I always think that's why you let me live.

(gunshots ring out) - And the next thing I know, they call up and say, "We've got six WI."

I listen to the captain call talk to a battalion and he's got six WI8?

I said, "Wow, we do?"

"Yeah."

So I'm going down the trail and here's his Sergeant coming up the trail and he's got his arms severely wounded.

And I stop and talked to him and I said, "Where are all these WIAs?

And he said, "Down there."

And I said, "Who are they?"

And he said, you know, he named Murph.

And I said, "Gene Murphy?"

He said, "I don't know.

It's Murphy."

(dramatic music) So I just started hollering Gene's name, "Murphy!

Murphy!"

And when I got close enough to him he hollered at me and that bows over here.

So then I found him and I would've never seen him had he been unconscious 'cause he was over there in the jungle.

- I think the first words I said to him, "What the hell took you so long?"

And I knew he was probably more frightened, maybe even then myself because I mean he rips two trees out, you know, what three inches thick, with his bare hands to make me a stretcher.

And when he was there, he kept saying, you know "How are you doing?

How are you doing?"

I said, I wouldn't talk much.

He said, "You're not going into shock?"

I said, "No."

I said, "It hurts."

They were gonna lift me on this poncho and Diemo was one that didn't like to see any blood.

Lyle said, though, "You lift him right in the middle."

And Diemo said, "No, I don't think I can do it."

And Lyle said, "Either you do it or I'm gonna shoot you right here."

And of course, "I will, I will."

And they left him and then they carried us, they carried me, probably about 400 meters.

This was about 4:30 when we got hit.

And this was probably about 6, 6:30 when the chopper come in.

When they're hovering, just on top of the trees, 'cause we didn't have the LZ or the landings to put the bird in and all of a sudden I can hear the NVA shooting the bird.

Yeah, I mean they're shooting, really shooting the hell out of him.

I can hear the chopper pilot come back.

One of 'em, "Hey, it's too damn hot!

It's too hot!

We're gonna abort the mission, abort the mission!"

And then I can hear 'em lift off.

And I knew we'd be there all night then.

- And of course that was devastating news for us.

'Cause the first thing, yeah, we know it's hot down here, you know.

- And then that night he laid beside me the whole night, you know.

And of course I begged for water.

I mean, I was so thirsty and he wouldn't gimme any.

He'd just gimme the, I call it the cap of the canteen.

- My training was, give him a capful.

Can't give him very much 'cause you're afraid if it's infected water that it could infect and make things worse.

Anyway, this other guy was kinda screaming all night long.

And had he got out that night, he would've been just fine, my understanding is.

He was from Pennsylvania, Sy.

But he didn't.

He died shortly before the chopper got there, hour maybe.

(dramatic music) So we laid there and everything.

And then when the next morning came, I went down and told the captain that Gene's first one out.

He says, "Okay."

I went back to get him 'cause the chopper was coming and got him down there and got him in there and got him up and got him gone.

And that's all I could do.

So I went back and I was thirsty.

I hadn't drank any water because I wasn't gonna drink any water until I knew that Gene was okay, had all the water he needed.

And then I reached over and picked up my canteen to get that drink of water.

'Cause I'm the one that laid it back down there.

I knew how much water was in that.

And there was no water in that.

You left yours down there in the jungle, remember?

- Must have.

- [Man] Yours wasn't made a plastic.

- Yeah, just like this.

Yeah.

- [Man] Were they?

- That's a very identical- - Identical, yeah.

- We each carried two of them and then we had- - No.

I carried four of 'em cause- - I carried it.

Well that two quart.

- Yeah, the two quart, but that they had the thinner.

- Yeah.

- Rubber.

The vines wouldn't put a hole in this.

It would in the two quart one.

(melancholy music) The doctor came over and he had a chaplain with him, told me I wouldn't walk again.

I mean, I was angry, but then I looked around and I knew I was probably very fortunate to be alive.

You know, we seen guys shot up so bad that we thought, they're not even gonna make it to the chopper to get 'em out.

And they lived.

But we seen other guys, Gerry Warbritian got shot through the knee and an hour later he was dead.

And then I had a buddy Gary Grubs.

He was wounded February, I think it was February 6th.

Well, I thought he was back to the world.

Well, he came and seen me like the third day in the back hospital.

And I even said to him, "Grubs, what are you doing?"

He said, "Sarge, I knew you'd need my tail back here."

So he said, "I volunteered to come back."

And I said, "Well, why didn't you go home?"

He said, "No, you guys need me."

25 days later, he got killed.

(melancholy music continues) You always think of those individuals.

What could have he been?

You know, would he been a famous doctor, a famous inventor?

You know, he was, I think, 19 years old.

(melancholy music) - After I put Gene Murphy on a chopper, I knew that I would not know whether he was alive or dead until I heard from home.

And so immediately I wrote home to my folks and his folks.

And told him that Gene had been wounded.

I got a letter back probably two weeks later that told me that Gene had made it.

So that was the only way I knew.

But I was sure glad to hear that Gene was alive.

(melancholy music continues) They told me right away that I probably wouldn't have any kids.

You know, we were blessed to have a daughter.

Yeah, I guess I think I've been blessed but I also say life is easy every day because I look at that where, you know, every day I get up, I get clean clothes, a hot shower.

I get to drink clean water.

And that's why I always say, "Hey, life is easy."

And then I always also add, "If you know Lord, it's gonna be that much easier."

And I guess I look back on different things and yeah, I was very fortunate, you know, that my name isn't on the wall, you know.

Or even Lyle's name.

(dramatic music) I came back and went to school or to college in business administration.

And I got really involved with the veterans mainly the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Disabled American Veterans.

And you could say, I got so involved with the veterans issues and stuff that I just went to work for the DAV.

And that was way back in the seventies.

You know, I mean, from what, raising dollars for 'em to lobbying as a lobbyist, a state newsletter and a chapter newsletter, working with the VA on different issues for veterans.

So I ended up just, I mean, working for the last roughly 45 years with the Disabled American Veterans.

I always say it's been a good run.

We've done many things.

We started a transportation program.

We started that in 1984, right here in Sioux Falls.

And then in 1987, our national DAV picked it up and ran with it throughout the nation.

Where I was the National Commander in '87, '88.

I got to meet in the White House with with the President Reagan, but I've got to meet the President Bush Senior, President Obama.

I look at the freedoms we have and you know, freedom is not free.

You know, them veterans, you know many of 'em pay the price.

And to me, that price is for their lifetime.

You know and that's at times Congress forgets that.

You know, we're a cost of war and our war isn't over until we die.

Now we've got these, I call these young whipper snappers coming back from Iraq, Afghanistan, and they've got seriously, I mean, injuries and, and they're not being taken care of.

We don't think, properly.

(phone rings) DAV, may I help you?

This is Murph.

Well, we got a couple, we got the- (uplifting music) - When you meet Gene, you want to be this friend forever.

And anybody that he doesn't know is a friend that he doesn't know, but as soon, he just hasn't met him yet, you know, and that's the way Gene is.

And he's my brother.

- Yeah, he saved him.

And, you know, at times how do you thank an individual that, you know, and we've been like brothers.

I was his best man at his wedding, you know.

I mean, I look at that and he's got two kids that are just to me, super kids.

But I did give him heck when his boy went in the Marine Corps.

(Murph laughs) And now he's got actually a grandson that just went in.

(uplifting music) - I stop here a lot now, especially when I'm retired and I've got time.

I stop here quite often.

Because I know where he'll be.

He'll be here.

(uplifting music continues) (upbeat music) - In the Minnesota River Valley, all the way from Ortonville down to Mankato, you'll find rock outcrops that have cactus.

Many people don't know we have three different kinds of native cactus growing in Minnesota.

The ball cactus, the brittle prickly pear, and the plains prickly pear.

But many people don't know that we have cactus in Minnesota.

(upbeat music continues) So people can go to visit the cactus that are native to Minnesota in a few special areas.

There are three different scientific and natural areas managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, right around the Granite Falls area.

The Blue Devil Valley Scientific and Natural Area, the Nice Outcrop Scientific and Natural Area, and also the Sweets Forest Scientific and Natural Area are all preserved because of the rock outcrops and the plants and animal that live there.

So 13,000 years ago, scientists believe, that Glacier Lake Agassiz, which was formed up by the bump in the state by melting glaciers, actually crossed the continental divide by Browns Valley with a huge amount of water that was there.

It was frozen to the north so it couldn't go north.

So it got deeper and deeper until it crossed the continental to divide and scoured what we know today as the Minnesota River Valley.

So think of this huge torrent of rocks and soil and water, everything with it.

And it uncovered all these rock outcrops that stayed put through this big torrent of water that came through.

These pot poles are created by rocks and pebbles that started swirling in a little divot in the rock.

It would've originally looked kind of like a donut.

And so we call 'em potholes.

They also have unique plants and animals that live amongst them.

So they're very cool for that reason.

And they're very cool because they're a part of the geology of the Minnesota River Valley.

We should preserve the unique plant and animal communities that live on the rock outcrops here in the Minnesota River Valley because they're found nowhere else.

This is the only place they can live.

And so we should maintain those sites as open rock knobs so that the plants and animals that have evolved through time can live and thrive there.

(mid tempo music) (upbeat music) - "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yagel-Juline on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota on the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's arts calendar.

An arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central, Minnesota.

On the web at lracfourcalendar.org.

Playing today's new music, plus your favorite hits 96.7kram online at 967kram.com.

(upbeat music)