Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 8B - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. TUNE 3. 2009
An evacuation
helicopter comes
in to take out U.S.
1st wounded in
the battle for con
trol of the vital
A Shau Valley,
where Hamburger
Hill was located.
According to
Wood, the devas
tated terrain was
typical following
a heavy engage
ment with the
enemy.
40 Years Later, Memories Of Vietnam's
'Hamburger Hill' Still Vivid For Bill Wood
The former Army medic operates a barber shop
on the lla Road. He returned from Vietnam with six
medals and some permanent medical problems,
but with his faith intact. Photo by Mark Beardsley
By Mark Beardsley
The 40th anniversary of
one of the deciding battles
of the Vietnam Conflict
slipped quietly by during
May but Bill Wood didn’t
need a reminder.
The long-time Commerce
barber and Madison
County native is constantly
reminded of the 10-day bat
tle and other horrendous
experiences of a 14-month
deployment by nightmares
and health issues from
front-line action as a U.S.
Army medic.
The battle for jungle-clad
Hill 937 got its name from
its grizzly aftermath, the
body parts and wounds
that “looked like ground
up hamburger meat," said
Wood, who was 21 at the
time and serving with the
82nd Airborne Division.
The “official’’ toll from
the battle was 56 American
dead and 421 wounded,
not to mention 630 known
enemy deaths. Wood dis
putes that number, saying
hundreds of American
soldiers died, but the battle
marked the end of major
combat operations as the
toll further intensified anti
war sentiment in America.
One of 14 children of the
late Esco and Leila Wood
(and the first of those to
be born in a hospital — the
old Commerce Hospital),
Wood grew up on Jot-em-
Down Road and graduated
from Madison County
High School.
Drafted in 1967, Wood
followed two brothers in
claiming conscientious
objector status.
“Really and truly, 95 to 99
percent were conscientious
objectors,’’ he said. “They
didn’t believe in killing, but
they had no choice. I went
one step further and stood
up for conscientious objec
tor.’’
That, he said, pretty much
made him a medic. He
trained at Ft. Benning, then
Ft. Sam Houston in San
Antonio, TX, and arrived
at Siagon (after a stop at
Cam Rahn Bay) South
Vietnam in the middle of
the Tet Offensive. It was an
auspicious beginning of a
tour of duty.
The airplane’s flight was
delayed by a rocket attack,
and when the airplane
finally landed, the attack
resumed. Wood and fellow
soldiers rushed to bunkers
on the airfield, but eight
were killed when a rocket
struck the end of one bun
ker.
Two minutes into Wood’s
tour of duty and eight
people had died. Welcome
to Vietnam.
The survivors were put
on a C130 aircraft and
went north to an airfield
near the demilitarized
zone and the scene was
repeated, killing 10 more
soldiers. Wood and the oth
ers were loaded into trucks
and moved into the interior
to Camp Eagle, which that
night was overrun by the
enemy, who killed every
officer in the camp and 14
other men.
“I’d think of all those men
who never saw the sun rise
in Vietnam,’’ he noted.
Most of his service was
in the triple-canopy jungle
where enemy engagements
were often at a range of
8-10 feet.
“You couldn’t see
nowhere in front of you,’’
he said. “Ninety percent of
our contact was anywhere
from 10 feet to as far as
from here to that truck
(maybe 50 feet). Most of
the time you didn’t aim,
you just pointed and fired
you were so close.’’
Wood took one serious
advantage to Vietnam
— a Christian faith from
a Holiness background
in which he’d seen and
experienced what he views
as miracles — the unex
plained sudden healing
of his father from cancer
following the prayer of a
preacher; mended broken
bones in his brother after
an auto accident and a
prayer session just before
surgery. He’d find more in
the jungle.
On one occasion he
“heard God’’ tell him to
rescue a wounded soldier
in the midst of a curtain
of enemy fire. He remem
bers nothing of the rescue
except, when it was over,
pointing a finger heaven
ward amidst his astonished
comrades. Neither he nor
the wounded man were
struck at the time.
On another occasion, a
man standing next to him
had his jugular vein severed
in a rocket attack.
“Doc, I’m seven days
short,’’ the victim told him.
“I thought I was going
home to see my mom and
dad.”
“My hand went up and
laid there (on his neck) and
the bleeding stopped.’’ The
soldier was amazed and
asked him what he’d done.
“I didn’t do anything,’’
Wood replied. “God told
me to put my hand up
there and tell you you are
going home to see your
mom and dad.”
Later, doctors radioed
Wood in the field to ask
what he’d done. No one
had ever seen the victim
of a severed jugular vein
survive.
But Wood should have
missed out on Hamburger
Hill. He severely injured
his back falling off a high
bank under a rocket attack
that also left him deaf and
paralyzed.
“I prayed to the Lord that
if this was the way I’d be
the rest of my life to help
me not be angry about the
situation,’’ he recalled.
Soon he felt like someone
had poured warm water all
over him, and he was able
to relax.
“I had no fear about the
rest of my life,’’ he said.
Wood eventually recov
ered — although he has
a constant ringing in his
ears, his ear drums are
prone to break and he
battles back issues still
(along with the effects of
exposure to Agent Orange).
When his tour of duty
was 30 days from end
ing, Wood signed on for
a 69-day extension as a
means of getting early
release from the Army.
It was during that exten
sion that the battle for
Hamburger Hill occurred.
It was the most intense
action he saw, Wood said.
The enemy was con
cealed on the mountain,
and the American com
mand ordered them
removed. Americans
climbed the hill, but the
Vietnamese were so well
concealed at the bottom,
that troops went by them.
The enemy soon had
American forces caught in
a deadly crossfire, shooting
at them from above and
below.
Some 1,800 U.S. troops
supported by 10 batteries
of artillery and hundreds
of airplane sorties engaged
in a 10-day, 24-hours-a-day
battle.
The terrain was jungle
when the battle started;
by the end, it was totally
devoid of vegetation.
Just a few days after the
battle, the Americans aban
doned the hard-won hill.
Wood returned from
Vietnam July 21, 1969, win
ner of six medals, includ
ing the Bronze Star and
Silver Star. Driving through
Gainesville that same week,
he saw a flashing sign
advertising the Gainesville
Barber College.
“The Good Lord said pull
in there and see what the
man has to say.’’
He started barber school
the next day. He still
Commerce, shop.
Although haunted by the
experience, Wood says
talking about it helps — par
ticularly when he’s talking
with veterans with similar
war experience, be it from
Vietnam or World War II.
The experience also
deepened his faith.
“God got me through
that place,’’ he said, “And I
had a lot of praying people
here.’’
Although he never wrote
home about his combat
experience, Wood said his
mother would write letters
to him describing the date
and time of battles he’d
been in.
‘The Lord woke her up
and told her to pray and to
call others in the church and
pray for me,’’ he explained.
A critically wounded soldier is aided by other
soldiers from “B” Company, September 16th, 1966,
two miles South of the de-militarized zone.
A U.S. army Loach scout helicopter corrals
Vietnamese villagers and their livestock near Ba
Xoai, 1968. The OH-6 light observation helicopters
nicknamed “loaches” from the acronym LOH, were
the eyes in the field of the U.S. infantry.
Vietnam photos by Tim Page
cuts hair at his lla Road,
Dates, Rates
Set For Use
Of Reservoir
By Mark Beardsley
The Upper Oconee
Basin Water Authority
established hours and a
fee schedule for (eventu
al) fishing from boats in
the Bear Creek Reservoir
Thursday.
Basically, the group
accepted the proposal
presented by Jackson
County recreation direc
tor Ricky Sanders — with
minor changes.
Work, though slowed by
rain, is under way on the
boat ramp and related
facilities. It is expected
to be completed by early
August, according to
Jim Luke, who heads the
authority’s Recreation
Committee.
The move will not
only allow and regulate
boat access by the gen
eral public, but it will also
seek to control use of
boats by adjacent prop
erty owners, who by and
large have fished at will
thus far.
In addition, the four-
county group approved
a $50,000 cost estimate
from Jackson County to
build rest rooms, a sep
tic system and a guard’s
kiosk at the site.
When the boat ramp
opens, hours of opera
tion will be from 6 a.m.
to 9 p.m. Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays
May through September;
and from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursdays and Fridays
October through April.
The ramp will be open the
Memorial Day and Labor
Day holidays, and closed
Christmas Eve, Christmas
Day, New Year’s Eve and
New Year’s Day.
Daily use fees for the
ramp will be $5 for adults
and $3 for children, vet
erans, the disabled and
people over age 65. Yearly
passes will be available at
$25 per person.
The new rules also
attempt to control use
by adjacent property
owners. They will be pro
hibited from using boats
on the lake during hours
when the boat ramp is
not open, and will be
expected to pay a $25
annual fee per boat.
“The good news is that
it’s raining a lot and the
lake is full,” noted Luke.
“The bad news is that it’s
raining a lot and it’s (con
struction of the ramp)
not going well. We prob
ably won’t make the early
August opening date.”
The authority also
approved the expendi
ture of another $50,000
on the project, which
is expected to cover
Jackson County’s cost of
building a rest room facil
ity, guard kiosk and a sep
tic system. That brings the
total estimated cost of
the project to $370,000.
Likewise, the group
approved a $19,500 esti
mated annual operat
ing budget proposed by
Sanders. The Jackson
County Parks and
Recreation Department
will manage the boat
access.
Thursday’s action also
give Sanders flexibility to
change operating hours
and days of operation
as the situation dictates.
The authority will review
the situation annually.
Bear Creek Reservoir Water Plant Wins Water Professionals' 'Platinum Award'
By Mark Beardsley
The water plant on the
Bear Creek Reservoir
received a prestigious ser
vice award last week.
O
Ryan Waggoner of the
Georgia Association
of Water Professionals
presented that group’s
“Platinum Award” to the
Upper Oconee Basin Water
Authority and its plant
management firm, Jordan,
Jones and Goulding, last
Thursday.
The award recognizes
the plant for achieving five
consecutive years of ser
vice without a violation of
any of its operating per
mits.
“It’s an exceptional feat to
meet the permit every day
in five consecutive years,
never missing a test,” said
Waggoner. “Not many facili
ties have met the five-year
platinum award. It does set
the standard for 2,600 water
suppliers.”
O