John Tyler – Two Purple Hearts; but never shed any blood!
John Tyler was born December 10, 1942 in Pleasant Valley, Texas in a small two room frame house. The house, still standing, is now brick with a two-car garage. Before John started school, the Tyler's moved to Amarillo where they lived on Buchanan Street. John attended Emerson Elementary, Horace Mann Jr. High, where he played football, and developed a passion for roller skating. John would roller skate five to eight times a week. He still has those old roller skates though he hasn’t worn them in years. In 1962, John graduated from Palo Duro High School.
While in High School, John started working for the roofing company where his dad was foreman. He was still working at the roofing company in 1964 when he received his draft notice. John’s induction was scheduled for July 6th. But before reporting for duty, the City of Amarillo gave him a memorable send off on July 4 with fire-works and a big celebration! In retrospect, the fireworks and celebration may not have all been in John’s honor.
John went through Basic Combat Training (BCT) at Ft. Polk, LA. After basic, he attended Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Ft. Ord, CA. At Ft. Ord, John was trained as a light vehicle driver with light vehicles being defined as any vehicle of 2-ton capacity or less. After Ft. Ord, he was assigned to Frankfurt, Germany.
While in Germany, John learned that the US had combat troops in Vietnam. He made the decision to request training as a paratrooper (Jump School) and then be assigned to Vietnam. The Army honored John’s request for duty in Vietnam, but no Jump School.
Upon arrival in Vietnam, John was assigned to the 1st platoon, B (Bravo) company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry of the 1st Cavalry Division located at An Khe. His unit wanted him to be a truck driver. John was having none of that and told his superiors he wanted to be in the infantry. His superiors honored his request, and John became an infantryman. Initially, John’s platoon leader wanted him to be a Jeep driver and assistant gunner on an M60 machine gun crew. Upon expressing his displeasure with these duties, John was given an M16 and became one of the company’s point men. Because point men were rotated on a daily basis, John had the good fortune of never being on point when his company walked into an ambush or other hostile action.
John was awarded his first Purple Heart for a wound he received on February 17, 1966. On that day, Bravo company had engaged in a firefight with the Viet Cong (VC). John had taken cover behind a rock when VC machine gun bullets shattered the sheltering rock. Though no machine gun bullets hit him, pieces of the shattered rock hit his right arm hard enough that he thought he had been hit by a bullet. Upon inspecting the damage to his arm, John discovered he was badly bruised, but not bleeding. The next day, he was evacuated to the base camp hospital where the doctor changed the bandage on John’s arm for a band-aid and ordered him to take seven days “light duty”. After five days of “light duty”, John had had enough of the KP, guard duty and police calls and hitched a ride on a chopper back to his infantry company so he “could get some rest”.
Upon returning to his platoon, John attended a field church service. When the service ended, he noticed a tear in his helmet’s cloth camo cover. Sticking his finger through the torn cover, John realized that his helmet had been hit by a bullet from the VC machine gun. His knees buckled. John realized that he had come within inches of taking what could have been a fatal bullet.
May 19th saw John wounded a second time. This wound was inflicted by an unseen punji stick as he jumped backwards to adjust his back pack. The punji stick pierced his leg just above the top of his boot. Inspecting the wound found a puncture, but no bleeding. John tells us that he “got two Purple Hearts and never lost a drop of blood”!
July, 1966, saw John’s time in Vietnam come to an end. John reflects that he was “glad I went, and I am glad I saw what I saw. But I did not want my son to go to war. I saw some really good men get killed and others get hurt very badly. Then there were some morons like me that didn’t get hurt at all”.
After his time in the Army, John returned to work in the building trades doing roofs, patios, dens, garages and steel buildings. He told us that constructing steel buildings was his favorite job.
In 1972, John married and became the father of a son and daughter. He was particularly close to his son who by age ten had become an accomplished roofer. Unfortunately, tragedy struck as John’s son passed away after suffering a heart attack at age forty-four. John’s marriage also had many ups and downs. After twenty years, he divorced his first wife, Sally, and then remarried her two years later only to divorce her a second and final time in 1998.
That same year, John married his current wife, Sharon. They celebrated twenty-five years together earlier this year (2023). Between Sharon’s four children and John’s daughter there are lots of grandchildren. John tells us that it seems like there are fifty grandkids when they all visit at the same time.
John retired in 2012 and spends his time watching TV and looking for things to do around the house. Quite a change for a man accustomed to working sixty hours a week up until he turned seventy.
John shared with us that he believes he has “led had a good life and has few regrets”!