We have been learning about Loren Wood, who was born in 1947 in Tyler to Beulah and Harold Wood; grew up on the family farm northwest of Balaton; graduated from Russell High School in 1965; and then volunteered for the draft after a year and a half at Canby Vo-Tech School.

Loren’ dad drove him to Marshall on Feb. 14, 1967, where he boarded a Greyhound bus to the Twin Cities induction center. Life accelerated quickly for Loren and the other young men who arrived, induction notice in hand.

“It was mostly a physical (exam). We processed for a day or two. Then they sent me to Fort Bliss, Texas. They gave you the basics there; saluting, marching, and our Army clothes. It wasn’t long — a couple days or so. Then I went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for basic training.”

The Army flew him to Fort Campbell. Loren’s arrival at his basic training post was like stepping into another world, one designed to intimidate the trainees.

“I remember getting off that plane and getting in buses. (Loren chuckled) They took us to the camp and getting off that bus with drill sergeants hollering and screaming, I thought, ‘What the hell did I get into?’ I lived through it, but I was scared spitless.”

He described the two-story barracks that was his home for the next eight weeks.

“There were no walls except on the end where the drill sergeants were. They had their own room. You had to go outside to go to the bathroom. Of course, you had to run every place you went.”

The training day began early and sometimes extended deep into the night.

“They’d get you up about 4:30 or five o’clock. You’d go have breakfast and then you’d have formation. In the beginning they were teaching you how to march; drill; salute; and who you salute. Later on you’d go to the firing range or threw grenades. As you got longer into your boot camp, things changed.”

Loren remembered that, while the training changed over time, the drill sergeants’ demeanor did not change. Sometimes their training program extended deep into the night.

“They had to be tough on you. I remember going on marches where some of the guys could not do it. So, one of us on each side would grab a guy and drag him along with us, just to get through it. You learned that you’ve got to take care of your buddy. Some nights they had night marches, so you might not get back until midnight or after. You’ve been up since four in the morning and it’d be one or two o’clock before you get back to bed. Those five mile, night marches were murder. On the weekend, all you did was sleep.”

Loren survived basic training and took leave before reporting to his next training station.

“I got leave to go home after basic for a short time. We flew into the Cities and I took a bus. The folks didn’t know I was coming home, so my sister-in-law, picked me up at the bus depot at the Garvin Corner. Dad and I talked about training and stuff, but Mom didn’t talk much about it. She was with Dad when he was in the military.”

Fort Gordon, Georgia, was Loren’s next stop for Advanced Individual Training (AIT).

“It was more like school. They’d get you up and you’d be in formation and inspection, but then you’d go to classes all day. It involved most any kind of radio communication equipment; taking them apart; trying to figure out what’s wrong; and repairing them.”

Loren found radio repair was not a natural fit.

“I didn’t have a clue what the inside of a radio was when I started. I would call it complicated because all I had ever done was mechanic work on cars. But this was pretty delicate work. I could not figure out how you could get a voice to come out of that box with all those little transistors. I thought, ‘Boy, the Army sure wasted their time on me!’ (Loren laughed) I never got very comfortable with that part of it.”

Fortunately, AIT was more than challenging classes for Loren.

“Three of us took a bus to Nashville, Tennessee for a weekend. They had the old Opera House and Music Row. We walked up and down Music Row. You could go into any bar and there’d be somebody singing. That really was fun.”

The Army had a surprise for Loren when he completed AIT.

“After Fort Gordon, they selected four of us to go to FAA school in Oklahoma City. They sent us there on civilian status; didn’t wear uniforms; and stayed in apartments. They were building new control towers in Vietnam and were using new equipment. They wanted us to be familiar with these radios. I was there eight or 10 weeks.”

Another Balaton soldier visited Loren. Larry Williams was the brother of Loren’s sister-in-law, his brother Dean’s spouse.

“He stopped on his way to Vietnam and we went out and had a couple drinks. That was his second tour. Larry might have been three years older than us.”

Loren completed his FAA training and went home again with deployment orders to Vietnam.

“Once I got done with Oklahoma City, I got 30 days leave. I had (deployment) orders to report to Oakland, California on December 17th,” he said.

Loren’s Christmas in 1967 would be in Vietnam.

Please visit our new exhibit at the Lyon County Museum, The Vietnam War and Lyon County, to learn more about the experiences of our area Vietnam veterans.