Vietnam veteran, and US Army 1st Sergeant David T. Reed following a rifle match awards ceremony in 1961. Photo US Army via Michael Reed.

 

IN HONOR OF THE MAN

 

A scrap of paper with the date of birth, date of demise, next of kin, and a little other brief information is all it says. It also details where relatives and friends will meet to say their last goodbyes. That’s the way the obituary reads. That’s a pretty scant marker for a man who lived, breathed, walked and made his mark on this earth for 88 years.

The man in the obituary was my father, David T. Reed. He was a retired 1st Sergeant in the US Army. This is the man who greatly shaped and molded me into the man I am today by his word and example.

The obituary tells a brief bit of his service record and what he did, some commendations, awards and recognitions he received, when he retired and what work he did afterward. And as much as he would not like me to say so, he was a highly decorated Vietnam veteran and a war hero according to the US Army. I say that because the rule in our house was ‘don’t bring attention to yourself’.

One or two columns by a few inches of newsprint in the obituary listing in the local newspaper. That listing tells nothing of how he was born, raised, the experiences he had, the people he met, the places he went, the things he did or much else.

The obituary tells nothing of his character, his discipline, his mental outlook and what he did to stay on the straight and narrow in his youth or his entire life.

The few lines of newsprint say nothing of his hopes, dreams and aspirations as a boy or as a young man, or how he would conquer the world.

The newspaper tells nothing of how hard he studied and worked to earn straight A’s in high school, how he never missed a day of attendance, or how he earned a full college scholarship in chemistry. It doesn’t mention the fact that he surrendered that full scholarship and worked a job to provide for his young wife and child to make sure they had a roof over their head and food to eat.

The news article says nothing of his intellect, his convictions or his dedication to duty. It says nothing specifically about his self sacrifice—-and he was a man willing to make much sacrifice—-to fulfill his duty to God and others as he saw it.

Even if you knew the man you wouldn’t know he had extraordinary courage in the face of danger, or that he was brave to the degree of offering his own life to rescue others from certain death from an enemy. He was what the scripture calls a “mighty man of valor”.

The obituary says he received: “two Bronze Star Medals with Oak Leaf Cluster with V Device for Valor, Good Conduct Medal, Army Commendation
Medal with third Oak Leaf Cluster with V Device for Valor, Republic of Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, National Defense Service Medal, Three Overseas Bars and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.”

The obit doesn’t tell you that he was so enamored with the military that he lied about his age and joined the National Guard at age 15! He volunteered to go off to Korea at age 16 before his mother found out and stopped that from happening. When he turned 18 he re-enlisted on his own merit.

 

YOUTH STORIES

I remember a few stories he told me when I was growing up. One was when he and his brother, my uncle, Bill, walked down to the Enoree River in Union County, SC, to go skinny dipping when he was eleven years old. They had to walk through the cemetery, go through the center of an area known as “Alligator Hole” and then walk a few miles to the river. Once there, they waded across the river onto a sandbar in the middle of the water and commenced to get a ‘whole body’ sunburn.

His mother, my grandmother, had forbidden him to go to the river. When he and my uncle arrived back home, she asked him where they had been. Of course, mothers have a way of knowing things, and she discovered they had been to the forbidden river. He said there was ‘wailing and nashing of teeth’ as she whipped them both on their sunburned backsides for violating the rules.

Another story he told was of fighting with some old Confederate swords. As he described it, it was not just tinging the blades, but full out sword fighting. It resulted in his sparring partner getting his thumb cut off and running home.

The boy’s mother contacted my grandmother obviously detailing the offense. My Dad learned the lesson that martial sparring is not appreciated by those who get their thumbs chopped off.

My Dad grew up living about 150 yards from the train tracks which ran at the bottom of the hill where he lived. He said that he would often stand by the train track during WWII watching the uniformed soldiers in the rail cars. He said they had open windows and were talking to him as they rode by, often throwing out candy and pennies to him and others as they went to war.

The man who would grow up to become a war hero and sniper spent much time alone in the woods thinking about what seemed an out of control world around him and his part in it. At some point in his journey he got a rifle and began shooting.

This was something he could control, and he learned to control it very well. So well, that later in life when challenged to prove his skill he could put a piece of tape across a washer and throw it into the air and shoot a hole through it. Stories are told of how he could light a match at 50 yards with a shot from his rifle. He also established and held two National Rifle Association (NRA) 1000 yard national records. At one time he was considered one of if not the best marksman in the world.

The rifle became his passion and the love of his life. It would be the one consistent thing throughout his life that served him and others very well.

Yet, you would never know he was a champion. He was a quiet man, reserved mostly, preferring to spend time reading and thinking. He did not like fighting, but did not run from it either.

 

A MAN OF PRINCIPLE

Some of the things I have heard, seen and experienced with this man I knew as my father were the following:

He embraced right principles at an early age. He was straightforward, never hedging. He despised a liar and a thief.

He  defended others around him and believed in the principles of liberty.

He was a man who would rather reason with you than fight you. He grew up defending himself and his little brother and knew the cruelty some can exhibit. He could defend himself with his bare hands.

He was quick to provide discipline to the forgetful hearer. As a boy growing up he was mild tempered but very serious about obeying the rules and the law. As a father, violations of the rules brought conversation, explanation of where the violations occurred and swift justice that was not soon forgotten. I was a quick learner and didn’t go to the ‘woodshed’ often.

He was not an outwardly political man but was very conservative in his life and dealings. Although conservative, he was not a political party man.

My Dad was fair and honest in his dealings with everybody. I remember he would often ask if what I was doing was fair to others. I’ve also heard him ask someone he was trading with if they thought it was fair to them. 

He was opinionated. Once he had discovered the truth of a matter he was not changing his mind and held strong opinions about it.

He was a terrific business trader. You had better pack your lunch to get the best of him in business dealings. He would often get the best bargain out there when buying. His motto was ‘everything is for sale at the right price’.

This boy from a small town who grew into a military man was willing to fight for fairness, right principles and truth. In the old America I grew up in it was known as truth, justice and the American way. And he did fight against enemies of our country to preserve the American way of life. 

He fought the expanding menace of communism in Vietnam and was prepared to give his life while doing so. He knew Communism was spreading throughout Southeast Asia in the 1950’s and ‘60s due to Mao and the Red Revolution. He also knew Soviet communism was growing under Khrushchev and that the Soviet leader had openly declared they would crush the US. And he was aware of communist activities in the United States on college campuses and other places where their influence was growing.

So, in 1968 he volunteered to go to Vietnam to fight the spread of communism. The man I knew up until that point was about to be changed forever. The man who had always had a big beautiful smile never smiled after that Vietnam experience until much later in his life.

He was impacted and changed in great degree by what he experienced. He saw, heard, felt, and smelled things that no man should have to sense.

He only told a couple stories over many years of his experience in Vietnam. One told was of a reconnaissance mission with two officers on either side of him walking through a swamp. He said suddenly three shots rang out and all three of them dropped face down into the water. He stayed down for a brief bit before raising an eye out of the water to see where the shots came from.

As I recall, he said he could see snipers climbing down from the trees. Once he saw them he hastened their trip to the ground. The two officers that flanked him died on the spot. My father lived to tell about it untouched.

I immediately think of Psalm 34:7, where it says, “the Angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”

Not everybody has the same mission in life. God calls us all to a different mission to fulfill his purposes. My Dad was delivered as a warrior to fight, protect those around him and defend against the scourge of communism among other things. And just an FYI for any who doesn’t know, the communist Vietcong tortured, maimed, murdered, raped, and abused the south Vietnamese people to force them to go along with communism being brought into their country and expose the Americans. The Vietcong were being trained, supplied by, and advised by communist China. That’s what my Dad volunteered to fight against—the scourge of communism!

My patriot father never expected that those principles and the American values he cherished and lived by would be challenged by communists in our own land today! The communists have weaseled their way into America through bribery, rigged elections, espionage and traitors. They want to destroy truth, honesty, charity, capitalism, nationalism, freedom, our Constitution and more. And they want to destroy Christianity and the family unit in America because those are the tenets of the faith and the glue that holds this nation together. As a reminder, America means “heavenly kingdom” in the old Germanic.

The days my Dad spent in service to his country—our country—were some of his proudest days. He turned down the offer of a commission so he could continue doing the work he loved. He experienced some of the best and some of the worst of humanity at the time he was in the Army. He was shot at while he was doing  battle in Vietnam, and spit at by communist brainwashed Americans when he returned home from Vietnam. I think as a result of this antiAmerican behavior and the confidentiality of his missions, he spoke very little to me or anybody about any of the events and experiences he had there in Vietnam.

 

MEMORIES OF MY FATHER

In my memories growing up with my father, it seemed that we were always traveling someplace to go to a shooting match. He and I were traveling from place to place, first in a 1955 Chevy Nomad, and then in a ‘63 or ‘64 Dodge Dart while my mother and sister followed behind in the family car, an early ‘60s Chrysler 300.

I recall us going to shooting matches all over the country from California to Virginia. My family got to see a lot of the country from the windshield of a car back in the late 1950’s and ‘60’s.

When I was with my Dad we were at the shooting range a lot. And if we were not at the range we were at the ballistics center getting ready to go to the shooting range.

 

At the shooting range I learned to load and fire a pistol and rifle. I got the experience of being in the target pit at various distances and ‘pulling’ targets. I still remember how loud and how deep it was. I had the experience of mingling among men who were skilled marksmen and warriors. That was a great experience for a boy growing up. That was at “work” with Dad. And by the way, as I remember, the men just seemed to be more manly, tougher, in those days.

When “work” was over, we came home to the motel where we were staying and enjoyed the swimming pool and dinner out. I learned to swim from a lady while at a motel we stayed at. She had been a former Olympic swimmer for the German team in her younger days. Her husband was part of the same rifle team as my Dad.

Part of the off duty hours were spent socializing at dinner or around the pool in the evenings among their rifle team friends. An old friend was saddened when I informed him of my father’s passing. He told me on the phone “we used to drink a lot of beer and eat steaks.”

Another fond memory I have is of my Dad pitching a baseball to me as fast as he could when I was about 11. On my baseball team I was settling in to the position of catcher. One afternoon when he got home from work I was wanting him to come out and play catch. He was tired but I was pestering him and he finally relented and came out.

My Dad was a great pitcher and could quickly send the ball to any spot he chose. For half an hour or so he drilled my mitt with his fastball. I remember feeling the heat but not a complaint because that would end the session.

Afterward he said, “I’m proud of you. I didn’t know you could catch that well. I threw my hardest and you caught every one.” For a kid that praise went a long way.

 

OLD SOLDIER

A man in uniform of the US military is one who is prepared to fight his country’s battles, to defend her in her hour of need. He requested to be laid to rest in his old Army uniform with closed casket. The casket was covered with the flag he fought under. The red and white stripes and the field of blue with the stars were what called him to attention and duty.

Though aged and gray he still had the ethos of an American warrior. Though he had been retired from direct military service, for much longer than he was on active duty, he was still a warrior at heart. WWII General Douglas MacArthur said, “old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”

In a conversation I had with him several years ago, He wondered aloud if today’s Americans had the stomach to protect our country and his grandchildren from communist destruction. And, if todays Americans would recognize and be ready to fight an enemy in our own country if worst came to worst.

Time will tell, but he was ready to defend and serve his country if needed. I think that his request to wear his old uniform indicated that he was one soldier who was still ready to defend America against communism.

King David said of his general Abner, in 2 Samuel 3:38, “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?”

Today, my family and I mourn the loss of David T. Reed, a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather, an intelligent man who was multi faceted and multi skilled as a master electrician, mechanic, carpenter, expert gunsmith, as a warrior, tremendous marksman, and a mighty man of valor. He was my father and I’m proud to say so.

He is now meeting with Our Almighty God, who has prepared a place and reward for him. And though we feel the loss, as usual my Dad prepared for his journey, whether long before it or just before departure.

For those friends and family, I think he would say, ‘mourn now all you want’. But I think he would also probably say, but ‘not too long, we’ve got things to do.’ That’s the way he was, there was always more to get done.

WWII General George Patton, speaking of fallen war heroes, said, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.” 

I’m thankful my father lived as a patriot to his country, and a defender of what he believed in. As imperfect as he was, he was an example of what an American should be and one who provided for the well being of his family.

He will be missed by many, but his spirit lives on in all those who knew the man up close and personal. I saw his face for the last time on Saturday evening, he was at peace.

Farewell old soldier, patriot, prince and great man in Israel, mighty man of valor. Thank God such men as you have lived!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Reed is Publisher of The Standard newspaper, print and online, and TheStandardSC YouTube channel where many video reports may be found. Please share freely and donate to The Standard on this page to assure the continued availability of news that is ignored too often by the dominant media.

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