Even with 3 purple hearts and so many years of service, Don Wildsmith doesn't think of himself as a hero. He says he was simply doing what needed to be done at the time. He served in Vietnam in the Army as a medic, performing medical evacuations in a helicopter, sometimes in peaceful circumstances and sometimes in combat. After Vietnam he served another 30 years in the Navy.
In the recording of Don's memories of Vietnam, he tells a few stories about his service, and one of a remarkable coincidence. A doctor who attended to one of his wounds in Vietnam was also the doctor who delivered his daughter in Georgia a few years later.
May Kay Mitchell, who interviewed Don, called him a Renaissance Man because these days you'll find Don directing cultural affairs and occasionally performing on the stage in Winder, GA.
Click on the 
button to view the video in full screen mode.
Carl LaPalm served in 1971 and was severely injured during the "mad minute" when his patrol came off its duty. His moving story tells about not only his purple heart, but also about the many horrible things that happened to others. Mr. LaPalm came back from the war to become a carpenter, in spite of his injury to his hand, working on some of our area's largest projects including the Athens Regional Medical Center.
Click on the button to view the video in full screen mode.
Find us on Facebook