By now every-one has heard how John F Kerry distinguished himself in Vietnam and how he has made this the central theme of his campaign. We have seen home pictures of John Kerry in full military gear in the jungles of Vietnam looking the part of the warrior. His ads portray him as a highly decorated hero who rescued an army lieutenant that was thrown overboard when engaging the enemy. He spent four months in Vietnam and in those short months he received three purple hearts that earned him a one way ticket back to the States. It is remarkable how he distinguished himself during those four months thirty three years ago. To hear the Democrats, John F Kerry, was the audio Murphy of his generation. For those who do not know who audio Murphy was, he was the most decorated soldier of World War II. audio Murphy received every decoration for valor that the United States had to offer. Additionally, Belgium and France presented to him five other decorations.
So it is, that John Kerry is being presented to the American public, as this great man of valor because he went to Vietnam as a volunteer. John Kerry served his country when others did not- President Bush- and for this we should admire him. However, there were others who went to Vietnam because they truly believed that it was the right thing to do. Some of those warriors are not known nor they will ever be. Nonetheless, there is a name that people ought to remember. His name is Donald Hamblen. Donald Hamblen was a non-nonce warrior, he was a Marine who considered himself an average Marine. An AverageMarine he was not. You see Donald Hamblen suffered a horrible accident on Sept. 21, 1962 while making a parachute jump over Camp Pendleton, California. He was a member of a pathfinder platoon with a force reconnaissance company(Marine Special Forces). He jumped from a C-130 aircraft and when he was about 800 feet above his drop zone Hamblen was caught in freak wind currents drifting his parachute to a series of high tension power lines. And less than 50 feet from the ground, his parachute became entangled in the lines and within seconds his parachute was engulfed in fire.
His canopy melted and Hamblen fell 30 feet to the ground and four days later his left leg was amputated, and here his story gets remarkable. Instead of feeling sorry for what had happened to him, Hamblen vowed to walk again and to return to the Marine Corps as well. What was also remarkable as well, was his attitude towards his leg, for him, it was "I just lost a leg, that's it". Donald Hamblen underwent an eight month period of grueling physical therapy overcoming many obstacles and finally convincing the Marine Corps to restate-him to active duty. And in 1965, Hamblen volunteered for duty to Vietnam and was the only Marine to serve in combat wearing a prosthesis. He lead and trained a 37-man Studies and Observation Group and conducted more than 40 crossborder raids into North Vietnam and was wounded twice while serving 30 months in Vietnam. So here is this man who lost a leg and thought of only serving his country with pride, and honor, as compare to the actions of John F Kerry. It feels great to know that we have such great men in this country willing to go great lengths of sacrifice for their country.
If you are interested is knowing more about this great warrior there is his autobiography One Tough Marine, co-authored by Bruce Norton and also there was an article written by Chris Lawson that appeared in The Marine Times in 1994 titled 'I just lost a leg, that's it' it is good reading and inspiring for our times.
