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Saying Thanks: Soldier injured in Vietnam who knows about sacrifice and tries to thank others who serve will have an honored role in annual veterans parade
Journal Photo by David Rolfe
Vietnam veteran Larry Starling will be the parade grand marshal.
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Published: November 7, 2009
When Larry Starling talks to soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, he always tells them how much he appreciates their service to the country.
"I never pass one of them on the street when I don't stop them and say, ‘Thank you,'" he said yesterday at the American Legion Post 55 on Miller Street.
Starling knows their sacrifice.
More than 40 years ago, he was wounded during the Vietnam War. His injuries were so severe he spent nine months in the hospital before coming back to Winston-Salem.
But Starling, now 64, doesn't regret his time in the military. And he relishes the time he spends with other Vietnam veterans. And today, he will be the grand marshal in the annual Veterans Day Parade, which will start at 10 a.m.
He will lead the parade down Fourth Street.
Veterans Day is Wednesday, but the parade will be held today so that more people can attend, said Charles Claybourn, the chairman of the Forsyth County Veterans Council, in a news release.
The parade will have more than 65 people participating and will include floats, marching units and 10 high-school bands. New this year is a Winston-Salem Dash float, celebrating the minor-league baseball team.
Starling, who grew up in Mount Airy and came to Winston-Salem when he was 17, always wanted to join the U.S. Army. In 1965, he was drafted.
Starling spent his first two years in the Army in Key Largo, Fla., and then went to Germany. In 1967, he was sent to Vietnam.
In February 1968, he was among a group of about 20 soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade, leading a platoon in Vietnam, just north of Da Nang.
This was at the height of the Tet Offensive, when the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong were attacking cities in South Vietnam. .
Starling and other soldiers in his platoon were ambushed. Starling was shot in the arms, legs and face. A platoon leader and another soldier were also shot.
"I thought, ‘God, don't let me die,'" he said.
Starling and the other men survived. A military helicopter flew Starling to Da Nang, where there was a U.S. Navy hospital. He was then taken to a hospital in Japan and then to a hospital at Fort Gordon, Ga. Nine months later, he was back in Winston-Salem.
Starling went to work for Piedmont Airlines soon after he got back. He retired as a senior sales manager around 1998, he said.
Starling said he loves keeping in touch with the friends he made in the military.
"I'm proud to have been in the military ...," he said. "The friendship and comradeship you made is something you never lose and the experiences you have you never forget."
mhewlett@wsjournal.com | 727-7326
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