WAYCROSS, Ga. – A Vietnam veteran from Waycross, Georgia recently shared his harrowing story of war for the first time.
“I mean, I could hear a song right now and put me right back in Vietnam,” Callous Taylor told News4JAX.
Taylor was a rifleman in the Marine Corps during Vietnam. By the time he left, he was a Lance Corporal.
“It just put a drain on, you go around not knowing if you are going to get hit, or somebody is going to step on a land mine,” said Taylor.
Taylor was stationed at a base in the A Shau Valley near the border of Laos.
It was there that, as a 19-year-old, he faced artillery fire.
“At night, man, you get, boom, boom, boom,” he said. “You just get down and don’t be peeping out, because you get your head blown off.”
As a rifleman, not only did he survive barrages of artillery, but patrols through the jungle.
“We were sitting on this hill and a round went right by my head,” he said.
The fear of being shot or killed never left him.
“I’m saying I prayed every day over there. I’m telling you, I prayed because I was from a religious family. I prayed every day, and God got me out of that. I just thank God that I made it back,” Taylor said.
For his time in the country, his unit received a combat ribbon.
“This is what everybody wants right here. Everybody does not get that,” he said.
Taylor served in Operation Dewey Canyon, an 8-week offensive to destroy a major base and cut supplies on the dreaded Ho Chi Minh trail.
They were awarded the highest unit citation, the Army Presidential Unit Citation, for their bravery.
“When you got in the bush, man, you didn’t know what was going to happen. You didn’t know who was going to get stepped on. I mean, you can step on a mine,” he said.
After the operation, it was actually malaria, that he says saved his life in Vietnam.
“It kept me from getting hurt. I don’t know that, but I know the guys, they said we got torn up,” he said.
After recovering from malaria, Taylor became an MP or Military Police, before coming home.
Now, he lives in his quiet hometown.
“I watch sports, man. I am a Georgia Bulldog fan. I plant a garden every year,” he said.
He is married to his wife Brenda of nearly 30 years.
She did not want to be in the interview, she specifically wanted her husband to have his moment and share his story while he still can. But together, they raised a family.
“I could not have a better wife. We’ve been married 26 years. I have a daughter. She got a degree. I got another daughter. She got a degree. I have a son. He got a degree. And I got my two grandboys here,” he said.
Taylor lives life with appreciation.
“If I die tomorrow, man, I have been blessed. I ain’t got no regrets. I hate to leave my family, but I mean, if I die tomorrow, I ain’t got no regrets,” he said.
He certainly has no regrets about his time serving his country.
“I am a Marine. Until the day I die, I be a Marine,” he said.