Fred Miller ST-2, was W.I.A. Vietnam and almost lost one leg and was medically retired.  He rehabilitated himself and enlisted in the U.S. Army and retired as a Lt. Col.  He is a gunsmith and has his plant in Iowa but lives in Ill.  Fred, Bob Thomas, and Doc Riojas were the TOP GUNs (NRA small arms instructors) in ST2 during prior to 'nam war games.  Fred is presently owner of  http://midamericarecreation.com/, he is a professional gunsmith and a humanitarian.

From: fmilcusguns [at] aol DOTcom
To: Doc Riojas  docrio45 [at] gmail DOT com
Subj: What I remember when I was hit in 'nam

I remember him using his belt around my leg and then some fence wire to tie around me. when I got hit Moose tried a John Wayne and carry me out my leg was hanging and flopping around.  He had me in a fireman's carry. and kept slipping down, several times not getting more that twenty yards, we passed Pete Girard and I asked him to help this guy.

 Pete attempted to help and Moose started hollering " I got em, I got em"  I said to Moose " the hell you have."  He slipped again and my face came down and I was looking at the bottom of my boot,  then I asked Jack Schultz  to put my ankles together and tie them to keep my leg from hanging and flopping around. Anyway Pete and Jack and Moose took me to the river. The wire they use to tie my ankles came loose and while I was being held up in the water behind a old snag my leg started floating in the current and I could feel the bones crunching around and see the blood in the water.

Someone was shooting at us from out of the bush and Jack was trying to talk on the radio.  I remember looking at my hip while being carried to the river and it looked to me that I had about three or four pounds of Hamburger meat hanging out where the bullet came out. In just a few minutes our STAB came in and the guys pulled me up on the bow. The black kid named Percy was driving and he pushed the throttle forward all the way and about bounced me off.  I would holler at him to slow down and when he did the bullets would start hitting the boat again and he would push it forward and the Bow would start bouncing and I actually slipped toward the side.

 We got out into the middle of the river and a Air force Helicopter flew in and hovered over us. they lowered a stretcher basket, and the boat crew rolled me into it and strapped me in. The Hilo was taking rounds and took off with me hanging. I got cranked into the back of the aircraft and tied into the port  side of the aircraft, There was a Air force crewman who had a M16 and kept pointing it out the back and toward the area where we just pulled out of on the ground. He was determined to shoot off his gun at something irregardless of who was down there. While he was pionting his gun I could see something spilling out the back of the aircraft and it was my blood. the complete floor was red with it. It took some convincing to get this guy to quit what he was doing.

The next thing I remember is waking up laying along side a red dirt road and a little blond army nurse was cutting off my pants and I had IV's sticking in me. She started cutting my boots that I just got broke in and I asked her not to cut them, she kept on cutting saying" your not going to need them for a long time" and I didn't either for almost a full year.

 While I was laying there another nurse came by and told me I was before some other boys that had head wounds and would it be alright with me if they went for surgery first, I replied sure, I had raised up and was looking down that road and on each side there were wounded boys as far as I could see laying on each side of that road. That was it and the next thing I remember is waking up in a freezing room in a spika cast from my neck to my toes on the left side and to my knees on the right. Then the screw-ups started.

I got a commission in the U.S. Army by being a assistant TA teaching ROTC students at the university of Iowa. I only made it to Captain 03 before they gave me a medical retirement for bad knees. I wished I had made it to Lt. Col.

Fred & Linda Miller
                     

                           
                       Lt-Rt:Durwood H.White, Erasmo Riojas, Fred Miller ST- 2  1967 
                                                                  prior to us deploying to Vietnam