Vietnam 1st Battalion
Gary P. Berry
B Company 1969 – 1970
I was raised in a little town called Hanna, Oklahoma. I had 13 in my graduating class in 1968. One of my friends, Paul Barnett, got killed in Vietnam on my birthday January 3rd.
I would later be drafted 11 June of that same year 1969 at the age of 19. I could barely locate Vietnam on the map, now I had a good chance of going there. After I did my basic and A.I.T. training in Ft. Polk, Louisiana, I was sent to Vietnam and was assigned to the 101st Abn. I was stationed with B co. 1st battalion, 327th infantry from November 69 to November 70. As most of us were at that time, we were raised up to do as we were told and not ask questions.
It was all over the evening news, and now I was going to be a part of it. During my tour I saw things, and remember things I wish I couldn’t. The one thing that I know will never go away was when I was wounded in action on 29 May 70, and was Medivaced out on a stretcher off of Hill 882. I sure would like to know the chopper pilots names and tell them how much I appreciate the job they did hovering over the tree tops with me dangling on the stretcher.
I was sent to Cam Rahn Bay to recover, and then was sent back to the field to hump some more. As luck would have it, I ETS’ed on 9 November and was sent home. I would spend the next 6 months right back at Ft Polk and was discharged 12 June 1971.
I went to college on the GI bill and got my teaching degree, and later to become elementary principal, high school principal, and assistant superintendent and will retire 24 May 2002.
I married my college sweet heart, and we will celebrate our 30th anniversary 1 Sept. We live in Pryor, Oklahoma.
