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Toward FREEDOM
Posted on 02/16/2004 1:19:32 PM PST by Neil E. Wright
Toward FREEDOM
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"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty." Toward FREEDOM
PURE GENIUS.... I tell ya
War veteran shares story of life after 'death'
AFMC News Service Release 0238
Released Feb. 27, 2003
By Jeanne Grimes
Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFMCNS) — The possibility of war lent power and poignancy to the message a Marine veteran brought to Tinker recently during a National Prayer Breakfast gathering.
With one empty sleeve and a black eye patch as reminders of courage in combat, Clebe McClary’s South Carolina accent said, “Y’all, this is a serious time. We’re getting ready to jump in something right now, and I haven’t seen a whole lot of people praying. And we need to get back to prayer.”
His own life, McClary said, is proof that God answers prayer. He was a college coach in December 1966 when he came to a turn in the road.
“I saw a young man do something on a college campus I hope and pray I never see again,” said McClary, referring to a United States flag-burning.
He said the scene so disturbed him that he quit his job and went to Parris Island, S.C., where he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Following basic training, the Corps sent him to Quantico, Va., for Officer Candidate School and in 1967 commissioned him a second lieutenant.
He was later sent to Vietnam, where he led numerous reconnaissance patrols into enemy-held territory. The 19th patrol would be his last.
He said the 13-member patrol landed on a small tea plantation and made camp atop a hill they cleared of punji pits, booby traps and mines. Around midnight, McClary thought he heard enemy movement at the bottom of the hill.
He started toward his nearest men when a grenade exploded. McClary, hit in the shoulder and neck, got the radio and called for air support. A suicide squad of 10 to 12 North Vietnamese Army regulars breached the defenses.
“They had grenades around their waists, had the pins pulled, killing themselves, trying to kill us,” McClary said. “I didn’t know them, didn’t know anything about them, didn’t hate them, just didn’t want them killing me.”
McClary said he shot an enemy soldier, who fell into the pit where he’d taken shelter. The satchel charge the North Vietnamese was carrying exploded, blowing both men from the pit.
“I reached back for my shotgun and realized the blast had blown my left arm off just above the elbow,” McClary said. “I looked to my left. My radioman [and] my corpsman were dead or unconscious.”
In the foxhole to McClary’s right, a private “walked up on a grenade, smothered it with his stomach and blew himself in half to save my life and the lives of two Marines with him.”
Yet another grenade came his way and McClary threw up his right hand to shield his face.
“The grenade exploded and blew my nose off and my left eye, teeth on the left side and both eardrums out,” he said. “... I don’t know how long had passed, but believe me, y’all, I never wanted to live so bad in all my life. I wasn’t trying to be a super hero. I took 12 men out there, Marines, and I wanted to bring them back.”
Helicopters evacuated the Americans at 3 a.m.
“Five more minutes and nobody would have gotten off that hill alive,” McClary said.
Broken and bleeding, McClary said he wasn’t expected to live. His men, making what they believed was a deathbed call, brought him a plaque that read, “In this world of give and take, there are not enough people willing to give what it takes.”
Thirty months in hospitals and 39 operations gave McClary his life back. But it was a Michigan minister speaking at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes rally that gave him new spiritual realization.
“He said, ‘There are two kinds of fools in this world — a fool for Christ and a fool for others. Whose fool are you?’ That just slapped me right in the face,” McClary said.
After talking about his spiritual beliefs, McClary encouraged his listeners to give themselves and their children a few things money can’t buy — leadership, integrity and courage.
“Fellas, take that stupid cover off when you come in a building,” he said. “Stand up when a lady comes into the room, open the door for a lady, close the door. Pull her chair out, push it back. And ladies, let ‘em do it!”
Since the military loves acronyms, McClary left his audience with a few new ones:
PIG (Professional, Integrity, Guts) — “One needs to be professional, folks,” he said. “Be responsible. If you make a mistake, don’t blame somebody else. Take a stand.”
PRIDE (Personal Responsibility in Daily Effort) — “Pride in coming early and staying late, pride in shining your shoes, tucking your shirt tail in,” he said. “We’re gonna change the world and we can’t make up our beds? Something’s wrong.”
FIDO (Forget It and Drive On) — “Make a mistake, learn from it, forget it and drive on,” he said. “Don’t let somebody else’s life ruin your life.”
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