Trego's Mountain Ear

I’m thinking of a high school friend who didn’t make it back from Viet Nam.  Over fifty years ago, when I read the citation on his Silver Star, I thought that his sergeant did a good job of describing Keith Utter – and I moved from mildly supporting my country’s involvement in Viet Nam to supporting the soldiers and Marines who went there and opposing the politicians who sent them.

But I write this to remember Keith – not to add more animosity toward Lyndon Johnson.  Keith’s classmate at LCHS, Doug Sterner (he was Claude when we attended high school, but he wanted to be Doug even then) has published a lot of books on military medals – here’s the citation on Keith:

Headquarters, 101st Infantry Division (Airmobile), General Orders No. 10961 (September 14, 1970)The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Corporal [then Private First Class] Keith Edward Utter (ASN: US-56988031), U.S. Army, for gallantry in action in the Republic of Vietnam, on 14 July 1970. Corporal Utter distinguished himself while serving as a rifleman in Company D, 2d Battalion (Airmobile), 501st Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), during combat action near Hue, Republic of Vietnam. While in a night defensive position, Corporal Utter’s unit came under an intense hostile attack, and he immediately maneuvered through the hostile fire to the section of the perimeter that was hardest hit. While directing effective fire on the enemy, Corporal Utter spotted a wounded comrade lying in an exposed position. When his attempt to reach the man was halted by the hostile fire, he noticed small arms fire being directed at the casualty. Corporal Utter immediately rushed to him, but was mortally wounded by hostile fire while attempting to move the man to a protected position. Corporal Utter’s personal bravery and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

You can read it at https://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient/recipient-24822/   It includes a blurry photo of Keith in uniform – my memory of his face is much clearer.

I wouldn’t say we were particularly close friends – Keith was a young man who liked everyone.  As I said, the sergeant that provided the words for the Silver Star described the guy I knew: 

“Corporal Utter spotted a wounded comrade lying in an exposed position. When his attempt to reach the man was halted by the hostile fire, he noticed small arms fire being directed at the casualty. Corporal Utter immediately rushed to him, but was mortally wounded by hostile fire while attempting to move the man to a protected position.”  The man I knew could not have acted otherwise – it goes on to describe his bravery, for an act that more accurately describes his decency.

Keith and I shared a birthday.  So I guess that I tend to think of him more often than other friends who did not return from those games.  Occasionally, infrequently, I run across his nephew – now a middle-aged man, married to a neighbor’s daughter,  who displays the same basic decency and goodness that I remember in Keith.  When I do, I can smile, partly at a man I respect, and partly at the memory of a high school friend that I liked and regarded highly.

It took Keith’s death to make the Viet Nam war personal – at the time, I had a 1-Y deferment, which a Veteran friend described as “It means that when they call out women and children to stack sandbags around statues of Benedict Arnold, you’ll be used as a sandbag.”  Keith went, and I have no memory of the last time we saw each other – the risks weren’t apparent to my younger self.  He made sure that I supported our soldiers and Marines even while opposing the war.

And on Memorial Day, I think of the faces of my classmates, now grandparents and great-grandparents, and look at a blurred photo of a friend who never received that memorial of wife and children.  And I am pleased when I encounter, or hear mention, of his nephew who shows the same basic decency as Keith.