Newspaper Page Text
November 5, 2014
PAGE 7A
Hoot
continued from the front
by night and a moonshiner
by day, but had died when
Hoot was just four years
old. His mother worked in
a shirt factory and strug
gled to raise her three chil
dren. At age 12 he went to
work delivering ice and
newspapers. There weren't
a lot of opportunities in La
Follette, located 24 miles
from the Kentucky line.
The Army sent him all
over the south for training,
to Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga., then
to Ft. McPherson, Ga. and
then to Ft. Belvoir, Va.
before he was deployed to
post-D-Day France. After
he flipped an Army Jeep
upside down while driving,
his commander decided he
might be better suited as a
tank driver.
"He said I'll put you
somewhere where you can't
roll it over," recalled
Gibson. "And I liked that."
Gibson, nicknamed
"Hoot" after one of the
famous cowboys of his
youth, was assigned to an
M-24 tank and recalls driv
ing his tank onto pontoons
to cross the Rhine River en
route to Germany.
"I didn't have enough
sense to be scared," said
Gibson. "It thrilled me."
The war ended just as
Gibson arrived in Germany
but he still had an impor
tant job: To round up
Hitler's SS troops during
the occupation. Gibson said
it was challenging because
after the war Hitler's men
wore civilian clothes to
hide, afraid the Americans
would execute them. Once
they realized the
Americans wouldn't do
that, many turned them
selves in, said Gibson. They
could be identified because
all SS troops had two light
ning bolts tattooed under
neath their arms.
Gibson said seeing the
destruction of war was
overwhelming for a 16-
year-old boy. "There wasn't
a building standing in most
of those towns," said
Gibson. Gibson said his
tank division tore down
several Nazi concentration
camps, and they were met
by desperate Jews, some of
them wearing nothing but
a diaper and sitting in the
snow.
"It was the awfullest
sight I've ever seen," said
Gibson.
Gibson was discharged in
1946 and went back to La
Follette and got married.
In the 1950s he moved to
Detroit because "all south
erners went to Detroit",
and worked in the auto
plants making cars. In
1954 he and some buddies
decided to go back into the
Army. He went to Ft. Riley,
Kansas for mechanic train
ing before being shipped to
Germany and then to
Korea with the 2nd
armored cavalry division
for the war raging there.
Gibson said they spent
most of their time in Korea
patrolling the border as a
police unit and didn't see
any combat.
After returning from
Korea, Gibson joined the
civilian side of the Army
and made his first trip to
Middle Georgia, teaching
weapons to students in the
ROTC program at Lanier
High in Macon. Gibson
stayed at Lanier for three
years in the early 1960s
before a small conflict in a
Southeast Asia country
called Vietnam required
more of the Army's atten
tion.
Gibson was sent to
Vietnam with the first
infantry and a unit known
as the Swamp Rats.
Though he wasn't an offi
cer, Gibson was put in
charge of his platoon of
men because it had no offi
cer, or second lieutenant.
Gibson told his colonel he
didn't want him to assign a
young, know-it-all second
lieutenant to his platoon,
and instead just let him
handle it. He allowed it,
but with a warning.
"If anything happens,
Gibby," the colonel warned,
"it's your a**."
"If anything happens,"
retorted Gibson, "I ain't
gonna have no a**."
Unfortunately, a lot did
happen. While Gibson saw
no combat in Germany and
Korea, that wouldn't be the
case in Vietnam.
During one encounter
with the enemy he got hit
twice, with shrapnel first
and then he was shot in
the left arm. He still man
aged to help two of his men
to a safe area where a
chopper could carry them
away for medical care. For
that act of bravery he was
recommended for a silver
star medal and two purple
hearts and was promoted
to sergeant during that
first tour of duty.
Gibson said he returned
for a second tour because,
he laughs, "I'm a glutton
for punishment."
On that second tour of
duty he said had an experi
ence he will never forget.
Gibson had just returned
from some R&R in
Australia when his unit
was mobilized by helicopter
to a landing zone called
Maryann behind enemy
lines. The problem was
some of his men had
skipped out and missed the
trip, and he went back to
the rear to get them.
Gibson said by this time in
the late 1960s about half of
his 102 soldiers were on
drugs, he called them
"dopeheads", and about 12
of them had hidden behind
the camp to avoid the bat
tle, going to sick call
instead. Gibson said the
men were mad that he had
come back to get them and
they tried to kill him.
But before he could rouse
them back to the front, his
men at the landing zone
that night were attacked
by about 30 Viet Cong with
automatic rifles and explo
sives. Out of 102 American
soldiers in the group, more
than 70 were killed. "The
whole company was wiped
out," said Gibson, "includ
ing the commander, Capt
Richard Knight. He was
the finest officer I ever
met."
Gibson said he doesn't
like to talk about it because
it chokes him up. He said
he was known in the unit
as Bunker Papa because he
made the rounds overnight
in enemy territory remind
ing his men to stay awake
Announcing...
Empower Women’s
Health Center
0B/GYN Board
Certified Specialist
Dr. Kathleen
Mont-Louis, M.D. P.C
Now Open in Forsyth
Schedule your
appointment today!
SPECIALIZING IN
• Adolescent Gynecology
• Menopause • Colposcopy
■ Laparoscopy Infertility
High Risk Obstetrics
Robotic Surgery GYN Care
Monroe Regional
Medical Complex
120 North Lee Street
Forsyth, GA 31029
478-743-4030
and alert in their bunkers.
But he couldn't do it that
night because he was
rounding up the "dope
heads" back at the base.
When he returned to the
landing zone, Gibson said
he had the gruesome task
of gathering the bodies of
his fallen comrades. With
his unit decimated, Gibson
was sent to another outfit
for the final month of his
deployment, and went back
to the U.S.
Back home he taught at
Tennessee Tech and then
spent time at Fort Knox
before he retired from the
Army.
Gibson had always said
that if he ever got to retire,
he was going back to
Georgia because "this is the
best place down here."
He and his second wife
Jerma Sue raised their four
boys in Macon, and in 1982
they moved to Monroe
County. He worked in the
propane business, but he
could do anything - brick
mason, welding, carpentry
- he did all the work on
their home.
He wife passed away in
2002. He kept working
though until he almost had
a bad wreck involving chil
dren in front of his Juliette
Road home and he realized
that his deteriorating eye
sight was a big problem.
He sold his car and gave up
his driver's license then.
Living alone and no
longer able to drive, Gibson
said he's learned that his
first positive impressions
about Middle Georgia were
valid. Lots of friends have
rallied to make sure his
needs are met. Elizabeth
Bryant of Forsyth, owner of
The Whiste Stop Cafe in
Juliette, brought him lunch
every day for a long time
until Meals on Wheels
found him.
Reflecting on the state of
the world this Veterans
Day, Gibson said the rest of
the world needs to learn
from Monroe County.
"Seems like this is the
only place that's got any
humility about it," said
Gibson. "It's not like this
all over. This world is in
worse shape than it was
when I was a little boy
dragging ice off a truck. We
have more money, but
money's not everything."
The grandson of a full
blooded Cherokee Indian,
Gibson said people have
got to be neighbors to one
another, and have a posi
tive attitude and help your
fellow man.
"Don't put your neighbor
down," said Gibson, "lift
him up."
"It's not the world I grew
up in," concluded Gibson.
"We were poor, but we were
proud."
Vets Day program
Monroe County will observe
Veterans Day on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at
11 a.m. on the Courthouse lawn. The
program will feature a flag retire
ment ceremony by local Boy Scouts
and music by Betty Browning, who
will sing the National Anthem and
Nov. 11 on square
"God Bless America," and by popular
duo Doc and Not Doc. Veterans and
active duty members of all branches
of U.S. military service will be recog
nized. All veterans and military fami
lies and supporters are encouraged to
attend
Jit. Zion UMC’a
MoCulcuj JiwiHetpiace
Sponsored by the UMW
Saturday, November 15 th
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Women’s Clothing • Jewelry • Door Decorations (All Seasons)
Scentsy Candles • Celebrating Home • Homemade Pickles • Ekka Bleu
Silhouette Artist • Thirty-One • Used Book Sale Ruby Ribbon
Handcrafted Ornaments • Yard Decorations • Advocare • Mary Kay
Yunique Eyelashes • Mallory Miller (Music CDs & T-Shirts)
AND SO MUCH MORE...
Homemade cakes, pies, cookies, breads and other sweet items
will be sold by the United Methodist Women of Mt. Zion UMC.
LUNCH WILL BE SOLD ON-SITE
PROCEEDS GO TO MISSIONS
Mt. Zion United Methodist Cjfuvtefi
40 Rumble Road • Smarr, GA 31086
Call 478-994-9282
for more information
Free Kids Fun Day!
w' % PeytonAndersonCancerCenter
'111..
Navfcentf, leaitb
A free and healthy day out for the kids
Saturday y November 15 th
10am - 2pm
Peyton Anderson Cancer Center
800 First Street in Macon
Parking available in Bine deck
Free
Health screenings for kids
- Child ID via the Georgia Child Identification Program
■ Asthma Assessment
- Scoliosis Checks
■ Body Mass index Screening
Screenings subject to change
Healthy meals & snacks* / Entertainment
Fun activities for kids of alt ages / Drawings for fun prizes!*
* While supplies last
for more information, please call 478-633-6150
namenlhealth.org