What a Story! Glory to God! Veterans Day is this Monday! Give them your thanks for serving America!
Baptist Press
By Tobin Perry, posted November 8, 2024 in National News, North American Mission Board
SHAWNEE, Okla. (BP) – The impact came out of nowhere — but Southern Baptist Chaplain Charles LeClair will never forget it. Suddenly, another truck barreled toward them, slamming into their jeep and sending LeClair hurtling to the ground.
It was September 1969. LeClair and his assistant were traveling a dirt road in South Vietnam between Long Binh Army Base — the largest U.S. base at the time — and Phu Loi Base Camp. As the chaplain for the 103rd Engineer Company at Phu Loi, LeClair had an important job to do — a memorial service for a battalion soldier killed in action.
They stopped at a narrow bridge crossing a river and waited for oncoming traffic to pass. As they waited, LeClair and his assistant were listening to a replay of Super Bowl III from six months earlier, when Joe Namath led the underdog Jets against the heavily favored Colts.
Then came the crash.
“When I regained my senses from being thrown to the ground, I discovered severe lower back pain,” recalled LeClair, the first Native American to serve as a chaplain in the U.S. military.
The impact was powerful enough to bend the steering wheel. Yet, even in that moment, LeClair’s thoughts remained fixed on the duty ahead.
When he arrived at the base, his commanding officer, also a Southern Baptist, said: “Give me your Bible. I’m going to take care of the service.”
“I can do it if I can stand up,” LeClair said. And that’s exactly what he did. More Here
Pastor Jerry McCullah served in Vietnam, I asked him to write about his time in the war Here
Pastor Jerry also leads us in Veterans Day Prayer 2024
