Recently I had the privilege to interview Danny Haywood – Uncle Danny. He has had an amazing life, and approached it with a fierceness and determination I fear we are losing in our country. Please click the link below and listen to one of the sessions I recorded with him. WARNING the combat stories are intense.
During the Vietnam War, Danny joined the Marines and served with Lima Company, 3/4 Marines along the DMZ in 1967. In 12 months he was wounded twice and contracted Malaria before finishing his tour right before the Tet offensive. In one firefight, close to Hill 48 near Con Thien, Danny’s unit was overwhelmed and surrounded by a superior Viet Cong force, and when relieved less than half of his Company was still fighting.
After he returned Danny graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (see a trend here). Afterwards he went on to be world class weapons expert and designer. In the 1980s he was one of the few in “Charlie Wilson’s War” that slipped into Afghanistan with the CIA to provide arms and training to tribes fighting the Soviets, ironically those we are fighting today.
Danny does not consider himself a hero, but in today’s society he makes any Marvel superhero look like a Boy Scout. Frankly I agree with Danny, I don’t think his experiences in Vietnam were as heroic rather than what was expected and endured and suffered by thousands and thousands of his generation, with an intensity we today can’t appreciate and, except for a few, I fear we have lost.
Hokiejackson 
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