“War loves to seek its victims in the young.” – Sophocles
“Wars are created by old men for young men to fight.” – SGT Richard J. Bible, Veteran of Okinawa
As the war in Afghanistan drags on, we get the horrific news that thirty American servicemen have lost their lives when their Chinook helicopter was shot down by the Taliban. Twenty-two of the casualties were members of the elite Seal Team Six. Each of these young men had families; wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters that will mourn their loss for the rest of their lives. Most of us will mark their passing and move on; not their families.
It has been forty-three years since Danny Michael Gray was killed in action near Cu Chi, South Vietnam. He had just observed his birthday in June 1968; he turned twenty.
Danny was born in Fordyce, Arkansas on 23 June 1948. A farm kid, he grew up roaming the woods. Chores had turned him into a lean and fit young man. His high school was too small for a football team, so he played varsity basketball. His senior year he was named ‘Mr. Thornton High School’ a popular kid, who was always smiling.
Danny, his older brother Jim and I hung out together at the ‘Dixie Dog Drive-In’ in Fordyce.
The typical teen-ager hangout in the sixties; it had car-hops and a juke box; cheeseburgers, fries and Coca-Cola in glass bottles. Everybody for miles around would come by the place on Friday and Saturday nights. Date night in Rural America. It was 1967, the Nightly News said that Vietnam was ‘winding down;’ but kids our age were still getting drafted. All Danny wanted to do was get out of high school, get a good job, buy a car; pursue ‘The American Dream.’ However, there was that military obligation that had to be satisfied first.
Danny entered the Army in 1967. I entered the Navy in June of that year. I never saw him again.
This is his story.
A Heart Touched With Fire from Harry Short on Vimeo.
You 'Masters of War'... Pray for God's forgiveness... you will have none of mine.