From classmates to comrades in arms

(Editor's note: This story originally appeared in The Banner Press in June 2013 and is republished in honor of Veterans Day.)

MARBLE HILL — Fifty years and distance cannot break the bond shared by five men from the Woodland class of 1963. They share a rare bond that went beyond being classmates in high school.

As high school seniors they did what they were expected to do: register with the Selective Service. However, their story does not end there. Don Page, David Mouser, Larry Mayfield, Obed Rhodes, and David Hastings were drafted the same week.

Their letters of “greetings” from the United States Government arrived the first week of October 1965 with instructions to report to their Marble Hill draft board in one month. According to Mayfield, that’s when the guys realized, “my classmates are going with me!”

After the trip to St. Louis, they were sworn in at the induction center on Nov. 2, 1965. At that time some 45,000 men per month were being drafted nationwide for Vietnam. Every two to three weeks more men were being called up from Bollinger County.

For these five men, their time together was not over. They found themselves headed to an eight-week basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., where they were each assigned to different platoons but all within Delta Company’s 1st Battalion, Third Training Brigade.

It ended up that Rhodes and Page were in the same squad together. Mayfield and Mouser were in the same platoon. Mouser’s memory of the time centered around his trouble with the required exercises and obstacle course. He recalled, “We saw each other occasionally, and the guys [from home] helped me to be able to do the exercises.”

Rhodes stated, “It was encouraging to at least know someone there and not have everyone as total strangers.” Mayfield agreed. “It was something that at least during most of my training I saw someone from home,” he said.

Mayfield remembered that they were just small-town boys never having been anywhere. Mayfield said, “To get thrown into that [basic training] and to be able to talk to someone from home everyday was something that meant a lot to each of us.”

After basic training, the men’s lives took different directions. Mouser was sent to Ft. Knox and then to Ft. Benning, Ga., on notice to go to Vietnam. However, he was pulled off the list to deploy three times because he was needed in the job he was doing. He learned how to handle tanks and became a tank commander. He later was put in the supply room, was company clerk and eventually became armourer. He was discharged after two years with the rank of Specialist 4th Class.

Hastings and Mayfield went on to Ft. Sill, Okla., for a time with artillery training. After that neither saw anyone they knew from home. Hastings was sent to Ft. Lewis, Wash., in preparation for Vietnam for a year. He was discharged with the rank of Corporal.

Mayfield left Ft. Sill for Ft. Carson, Colo., to a 5th Army Artillery unit on call to go to Vietnam. After two months he was shipped out to Vietnam and attached to field forces the whole time. His group worked with all big infantry divisions. He stated,” Some portion of our unit was on every big operation making the news in 1966 and 1967.” He was discharged with the rank of Private First Class. Mayfield belongs to the American Legion in Jackson and serves on the Honor Guard for Twin City Memorial VFW Post 5900 in Marble Hill at veteran memorial services and funerals.

Rhodes left Ft. Leonard Wood for Ft. Knox, Ky., then on to Augsburg, Germany, close to Munich. He was part of a reconnaissance patrol border unit along the Iron Curtain on the Czechoslovakian border. Rhodes was discharged with the rank of Sergeant E5 in 1967. He is now an active part of the Twin City Memorial VFW Post 5900 in Marble Hill serving as Post Chaplain.

From Ft. Leonard Wood Don Page was sent to Ft. Polk, La., where he prepared to go to Vietnam. However, his next stop was Ft. Gordon, Ga., for training in a pole lineman outfit. He was later deployed to Kaiserslautern, Germany, where he served as a mechanic in the motor pool and generator mechanic for 18 months as part of the 25th Signal Battalion supporting the 3rd Cavalry Division of the 7th Army. Page indicated, “We were watching Russia watching us.” He was discharged in 1967 with the rank of Specialist 4th Class. Today Page is a member of the Twin City Memorial VFW Post 5900 in Marble Hill.

The “Big Five,” as they have jokingly referred to themselves, were finally all together again for their 25th class reunion in 1988. Recently they were reunited at their 50th class reunion April 27 in Jackson. As they stood together through basic training, they once again took pride in standing together as the five Bollinger County boys from the Woodland class of 1963.