I was sent to Vietnam in the fall of 1969. My unit was 1 Btn. 12th Cavalry, Air Mobile. We were walking patrol around a corps group building a road through the jungle. I was hit with shrapnel from a Rocket Propelled grenade during an ambush.

Many of our guys were wounded or killed. When the choppers came to pick up the wounded they filled up pretty fast. There was no room inside for me and they thought I was probably dead or would be very soon, so they wired me onto the outside of the chopper and carried me back to an evac hospital.

After a few days in Vietnam they sent me to Japan and then on to Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver, CO. The shrapnel had cut across my right eye, entered in the inside corner of my right eye, cut off the back of my nose, severed the left eye and exited in front of my left ear. Causing brain damage which resulted in seizures and memory loss. Loss of sight in left eye and 10 percent vision left in right eye. Hearing loss in left ear. After being home for a few weeks I developed Spinal Meningitis and was in a coma for 72 hours. The doctors told my family that I would not live through the night. A man came to the hospital and asked my family if it would be alright if he came in and prayed for me. After he left, I woke up, pulled my IV's out, climbed over the bed rail, straddled the IV pole and took a stroll down the hall. To this day I believe God has had a hand in my life and has kept me alive when I should have been dead many times.