Jim Nations said having a scholarship given in honor and memory of his brother Michael Nations — the first man from Whitfield County killed in the Vietnam War — brought his life back into clear focus.
“We talked about it all the way back home,” said Jim Nations, who traveled with family members from Cohutta and Dalton to see the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 1030 in Cumming, bequeath the scholarship to a college-bound Forsyth County student.
“I can’t thank these people (chapter members) enough for honoring our veterans the way they do,” he said before an audience at the Cumming National Guard Armory. “Michael and I grew up in a small town like everybody here did probably, and was ‘jerked up out of our beds’ — which is a rough way of saying we came up happy, two little boys having fun, and we didn’t even know we was poor.”
Marty Farrell, chair of the scholarship committee of the chapter, noted Sgt. Michael Nations, age 20, was killed during an assault on Hill 86 in Phu Yen Province, on Sept. 17, 1961, as a member of the legendary 101st Airborne Division (the “Screaming Eagles”).
“We had a good life, we went to high school together (at Dug Gap and Dalton High),” Jim Nations continued. “When I turned 17 I joined the Army and went away, and by the time I come back he’d already joined. We didn’t get to see one another a whole lot of those years. I really enjoyed having him for a brother, he was a good brother. I really hated that we didn’t get to see more of each other. If there’s any brothers out here that likes to fight one another, you know, you need to take care of one another!”
Cruse ‘would help anybody’
Ronald Scott said the day he learned his best friend Gary Cruse had been killed in Vietnam, there was a letter from him in the mailbox when he got home.
“He was telling me in the letter how we didn’t try too hard in school (academically), but that I needed to change because that was the way out if you don’t want to be here,” said Scott, who traveled from Chatsworth with some of Cruse’s family to the reception that also honored Cruse with a scholarship.
“He and I buddied up at Spring Place Elementary — it was called ‘grammar school’ back then — and we was friends all the way through high school,” Scott said of Cruse, who died at age 21. “Gary was a very, very good athlete, but he was a much better person than he was an athlete. He would help anybody any way he could, and he sorta took me under his wing — he was a little tougher than I was!”
Scott noted Cruse was part of the 2nd of the 27th “Wolfhounds” (Infantry Regiment) while deployed in Vietnam, and that when he also got drafted in 1969 he too was deployed in an infantry unit there.
“We were on stand-down for three days, and I went down to the unit he was in asking if anybody was with Gary Cruse when he was killed,” he said. “One guy that was on his second tour said, ‘Yeah, he was the best soldier and would help anybody and do anything.’ He came from a really good family. To all of you that are receiving scholarships tonight, you’re going to be leading our country one day. So please don’t never forget, there’s two people that will give their life for you — anybody in the military, and Jesus. That’s a fact.”
Farrell noted the scholarships are to “honor the memories of those who did not come home from Vietnam, and also to let their families know their incredible service to our country will not be forgotten … (Cruse) was killed in action in Tay Ninh Province on Aug. 18, 1968, while raining down fire to cover the retreat of fellow soldiers.”
Witness accounts of Cruse’s actions that day tell of his unit getting ambushed by a battalion-size contingent of enemy troops, and some “newbie” soldiers in his unit freezing up and being afraid to move. Cruse saw what was happening and exposed himself to hostile fire while laying down covering fire so his men could safely retreat.
Chapter 1030 in Cumming, the largest chapter in Georgia, gave scholarships of $5,000 each to six Forsyth County high school seniors bound for college.
Afterward, Cruse’s sister Kathy Burkett called the scholarship presentation in honor of her brother “wonderful, it was really nice.” She was asked about her thoughts while Scott and Farrell were extolling her brother who died 56 years ago this summer.
“Tearful,” she replied. “It’s been a long time; I wasn’t but 12 when he went — but it seems like it was yesterday. It’s still hard. Whenever he got killed, he had got all his men back (out of danger) … He always said he’d serve his country, no matter what.”
Scott added, “Gary had a lot of friends, but he was my best friend. I think often about him never getting to have a family and see what he could be in life. It’s sad.”
In the past few years, the Cumming chapter has also given scholarships in honor of Charles Burgess and Larry Davis, two of the six men from Gilmer County killed in the Vietnam War.