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George Nelson’s respect for war is great, respect for vets unwavering

Corporal George A. Nelson

George Nelson served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam.

He wasn’t in the infantry, but he was within shouting distance in artillery.

When you hear his stories of being shot at, and see the pictures of the size schrapnel he’s holding up, you can’t help but get choked up.

In talking with George nowadays — he’s a father of three and has been married since he came back from Vietnam –what he gets choked up over is conversations with World War II veterans he drives as a volunteer for DAV (Disabled American Veterans).

He says that’s how he gives back. His experience can serve a purpose.

Photos submitted to Times Observer George Nelson in Vietnam.

A humble purpose.

“I went to boot camp in August of 1969,” he said. “I started at Paris Island, S.C., so I spent eight weeks there. I was 19. I wanted to go because I had a friend (going). I was in college for a year — that just wasn’t my scene.”

West Liberty College in West Virginia and Nelson was going to be a physical education teacher.

“I had a friend that was in the Marine Corps,” said Nelson. “He told me stories and, I thought, this was for me. I wasn’t drafted, I enlisted for two years. I think maybe it was the Marines ‘looking for a few good men’ that got me.

“I always looked up to the Marines, and thought they were the hardest service to go into,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect until maybe starting when I got off the bus and this guy was yelling at me, calling me names. Then, it didn’t take long to dawn on me that this was my way of life now.”

Photos submitted to Times Observer Loading a Towed, which could fire for 15 miles.

“They (drill instructors) had a job to do. They had to prepare me…”

For war.

“They give you a test in the beginning. But they don’t tell you until the last week (of boot camp) what your M.O.S. (assignment) is going to be,” said Nelson.

He would be 0800, “which is artillery,” he said.

So this Pittsfield boy was wide-eyed and excited.

Photos submitted to Times Observer George Nelson in Vietnam.

“I would rather it have been that than a grunt,” he said plainly. “There were a lot of those. I thought I had lucked out when they said artillery.”

Being a grunt would mean he was “in the jungle.”

At that point, he said there were guys that actually wept a little bit if they found out they would be “on the ground, in the jungles” in the infantry.

“I guess at that time I wasn’t bothered by artillery,” he said. “I wasn’t too concerned with it. Because, from there, I went to Camp Lejeune infantry training. Every Marine is an infantryman, number one. You have other jobs, but you have to learn how to shoot everything.

“I thought it was great… you got to shoot every weapon that the Marine Corps had — probably 25 different weapons. I used to hunt, but that wasn’t hunting.”

This young man thought he was ready, and knew why. He had played for Coach Toby Shea and two undefeated Warren Dragon football teams in high school and liked, maybe even loved, the organization — the boot camp of it all, if you will.

“Everything was structured,” he said. “At 5 o’clock in the morning, you’re up… At 6 o’clock in the morning, you’re marching. That’s all you did.”

Nelson was a first-team split end.

His son, Eric Nelson, later played football for Warren. He had two other children, Wendy, a daughter, and a son, Wesley. Both also graduated from Warren.

They’ve heard some of the stories. Not all.

Photos submitted to Times Observer George Nelson in Vietnam with, believe it or not, a piece of schrapnel.

“(Football wasn’t) to the extreme that Marine Corps boot camp was,” Nelson said. “It wasn’t mom’s cooking, but I got adjusted to it, and I felt really good because they took my cigarettes away and I was in the best shape of my life.”

The shooting range changed that a little… “you’d sit there and practice with your sight picture for a whole week,” he said.

Then the next week, you’d shoot at targets. Only one week of training later.

“I had hunted, and was familiar with sights, a 303 savage model 99…,” he said.

Still, it hadn’t occurred to Nelson what was next. Maybe cliche, but he said, “When you’re 19 and you’re a Marine, you’re really not afraid of anything. I knew, signing up, though, that I’d have to spend at least a year in Vietnam. But you’re too stupid to realize. If I’d have known what I was getting into, I might have been scared.

“You have to throw a hand grenade, live, in practice,” he said. “We had a pit and some people dropped them when they got nervous. They had a cement hole in the ground if you dropped them. Say a guy got excited and dropped it, then the instructor was there to kick it in that hole. And you had to be fast. Then it would go down and explode in the ground.

“‘Don’t milk it,'” Nelson said they were told over and over again when it came to holding grenades.

Can you imagine?

Bazookas.

“We shot at old junk tanks that were in a field, tried to hit them with a bazooka,” said Nelson. “I’d obviously never used anything like that before.”

All that was in the sixth week of an eight-week boot camp.

To calm his nerves, he was back to smoking.

He hadn’t seen anything yet.

“Sure, there was a sense of pride,” he said of completing basic training. “You saw guys drop out in the eight weeks you were there. There were people that just couldn’t take it.

“I know now what I went through more than I did then (going through it),” if that makes sense.

Immediately after returning from the war, “I didn’t feel like going to the clubs, the American Legions,” he said. “It was disappointing.”

Because of the public outcry against the government, “there were no ‘welcome homes.’ You get home and get off the plane and see signs like ‘Baby killers.'”

“We got the brunt of” the protest the government, he said.

There haven’t been apologies, “but I’ve had so many people say thank you for your service and tell me they understand the sacrifice we made.'”

“I had this image as a teenager of World War II soldiers coming home as heroes,” said Nelson.

And it was deserving.

“I think it’s more accepted now (that I served in Vietnam),” he said.

“When you’re in Vietnam, you knew it was political,” said Nelson. “We knew it first-hand, on our firebase. From outside our wire, they started shooting at us as we are in our bunkers. Of course, you hunker down and they didn’t hit us. Then, you call back to the sergeant and say, ‘hey, this guy is shooting at us. Can I return fire?’

“‘Is he in the wire?’ No. ‘Then you can’t shoot at them.'”

“So, we got to thinking then… it was a bit confusing,” he said.

Once Nelson got out of Camp Lejeune, next was artillery training at Camp Pendleton.

“That was a shock,” he said.

“I had changed so much because I bulked up,” he said. “I was a completely different person. You had three meals a day, good rest, you were running, marching. I never did run as much as I did then. Morning, noon and night, Running in formation. We had our rifles here and our pack. Guys barking at ya. And, of course, we had obstacle courses we had to go through.

“I couldn’t do pull-ups. They wanted more. ‘Give me one for Corps, give me on for the commandant, give me on for God. You don’t like God? What are you an atheist?'”

Nelson was a squad leader. There were eight in his squad.

The Marine Corps had a Fat Body Platoon, he said. He wasn’t in it, he said. His way of saying that he was in great shape and able to lead a squad.

While in California, Nelson was introduced to an M16. “They handed that to me, and I looked at it, and it’s plastic, and I said what the hell is this?

“I’d just come off of training with an M14 30-caliber rifle and they give me this 22-caliber M16, and I wondered what the hell am I supposed to do with this?

“You’d run through this course and they had pop-up targets. Traps, and all that kind of stuff. Now you’re beginning to think, what am I getting into?

Then you end up leaving California and going to Okinawa, Japan.

And then, from there, Vietnam.

“Private First Class. I made that out of boot camp, which only a few did in the Marine Corps,” he said.

He made Corporal in Vietnam.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t remember, but I remember the plane ride, and we landed in Da Nang. I thought here we are in a country we are at war with and I don’t have a rifle or any way to defend myself. No weapon. The humidity, the heat. The stench.

“I didn’t have a weapon for two weeks, I didn’t have a Battery. Walk around. Da Nang was pretty safe. We had a big base there. I didn’t want to venture out into the villages.

“Then, I ended up on a truck convoy and headed to a firebase called An Hoa.”

An infantry group was there, too.

“We shot support for the 5th Marines. We were the 11th Marines. We were up on Hill 65 for a while. (The enemy) was just below us. They shot at us.

“One night I was on watch, and I’ve got the headsets on. It was a beautiful night, the stars were out. I’m looking at the stars. I hear snap, snap… I thought later, against the skyline, I probably made a nice silhouette. When the infantry down below heard these shots, they came up with everything they had. Everything they had in their possession they threw at that jungle.”

People shooting at us from outside the wire, they were using M16’s too,” said Nelson. “But when the rockets came in over the wires, that was scary.

These are life and death situations. This isn’t like pushing buttons on a computer in Call of Duty.

Nelson started a family when he returned home. He has always been proud of serving his country but also wanted to give back, volunteering to drive veterans for the DAV.

If only a little part of him relates, he can make their lives better.

That’s George Nelson.

Who continues to serve others.

“I can’t relate to World War II,” he says humbly. “Those guys went through pure hell. I was in danger the time I was there, but World War II vets, they have my respect. I drive them all over now… and hear the stories. That took a lot of guts. I get teared up when I think about World War II.”

The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in presenting the NAVY COMMENDATION MEDAL to

CORPORAL GEORGE A. NELSON

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

“For meritorious service while serving as a Section Chief with the 107mm Mortar Battery, Second Battalion, Eleventh Marines, First Marine Division in connection with combat operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam from 10 March 1970 to 19 February 1971. Throughout this period, Corporal Nelson performed his duties in an exemplary and a highly professional manner. Working tirelessly and with meticulous attention to detail, he expeditiously accomplished all assigned tasks and consistently provided his unit with outstanding support. Displaying sound technical knowledge and skill, Corporal Nelson ably trained his men in the effective, efficient utilization of their weapons, thereby increasing their individual proficiency and ensuring outstanding fire support for maneuvering infantry units. Participating in numerous combat operations and smaller support missions, he repeatedly distinguished himself by his courage and composure as he skillfully directed his mortar crew in the delivery of rapid, accurate mortar fires during enemy artillery, rocket, and mortar attacks. As a result of his diligent and resourceful efforts throughout his tour in the Republic of Vietnam, the operational effectiveness of his unit was greatly enhanced. By his initiative, superb professionalism, and loyal devotion to duty, Corporal Nelson earned the respect of all who served with him and upheld the finest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.”

The Combat Distinguishing Device is authorized.

FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY,

WILLIAM K. JONES

LIEUTENANT GENERAL U.S. MARINE CORPS

COMMANDING GENERAL, FLEET MARINE FORCE, PACIFIC

(Given this 17th day of June 1971)

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