12-11-2010, 06:31 AM
His long war
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Ron Cunningham
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By Ron Cunningham
Editorial page editor
Published: Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
( page 1 of 4 )
At dusk on Oct. 12, 1967, Sgt. Scott Camil, of Hialeah, was crouched in a bomb crater in South Vietnam’s Hai Lang National
Forest in the middle of a ferocious fire fight. A concussion
grenade landed nearby, peppering his legs with shrapnel
and rendering one of them numb.
“Kane,” Camil screamed to a fellow Marine. “The bottom of my leg — is it still there?”
“You’re leg’s still there,” PFC Stephen Kane responded. “You’re all set.”
“Reassured, Camil ignored the injury and went back to his task of calculating the enemy’s location,” writes Doyle D. Glass, in his 2007 book “Lions of Medina: An epic account of Marine valor during the Vietnam War.”
Operation Medina was mounted to drive the North Vietnamese out of the forest, a goal not fully achieved. Of the 187 marines involved, 11 were killed and 75 wounded.
Camil calls Operation Medina the worst days of his life.
A lot has happened to Camil in the 42 years since Operation Medina. He came home to help found Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He and seven others were charged by the federal government with conspiring to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention
in Miami.
The “Gainesville 8” conspiracy
trial resulted in acquittals across the board. And Camil would remain in this university
city to become Gainesville’s
best-known and most-enduring political and anti-war activist.
“I went from a 100-percent flag-waving, right-wing person who would do what the government wanted to someone who thinks for himself,” Camil told Glass in “Lions of Medina.”
More below:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090...?p=1&tc=pg
Ron Cunningham
Buy photo
By Ron Cunningham
Editorial page editor
Published: Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
( page 1 of 4 )
At dusk on Oct. 12, 1967, Sgt. Scott Camil, of Hialeah, was crouched in a bomb crater in South Vietnam’s Hai Lang National
Forest in the middle of a ferocious fire fight. A concussion
grenade landed nearby, peppering his legs with shrapnel
and rendering one of them numb.
“Kane,” Camil screamed to a fellow Marine. “The bottom of my leg — is it still there?”
“You’re leg’s still there,” PFC Stephen Kane responded. “You’re all set.”
“Reassured, Camil ignored the injury and went back to his task of calculating the enemy’s location,” writes Doyle D. Glass, in his 2007 book “Lions of Medina: An epic account of Marine valor during the Vietnam War.”
Operation Medina was mounted to drive the North Vietnamese out of the forest, a goal not fully achieved. Of the 187 marines involved, 11 were killed and 75 wounded.
Camil calls Operation Medina the worst days of his life.
A lot has happened to Camil in the 42 years since Operation Medina. He came home to help found Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He and seven others were charged by the federal government with conspiring to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention
in Miami.
The “Gainesville 8” conspiracy
trial resulted in acquittals across the board. And Camil would remain in this university
city to become Gainesville’s
best-known and most-enduring political and anti-war activist.
“I went from a 100-percent flag-waving, right-wing person who would do what the government wanted to someone who thinks for himself,” Camil told Glass in “Lions of Medina.”
More below:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090...?p=1&tc=pg
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.â€
Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller