Shortly after graduating from Centerville High School a rural Appanoose County man decided to enlist in the service. The year was 1968 and the United States was in the Vietnam War. James C. Clark, who lives west of Brazil in Appanoose County, was 19-years-old when he decided to join the United States Navy in 1968. He would serve four-years active duty, being honorably discharged in 1972 and two-years reserve, discharged in 1974.
Clark said by enlisting he was able to pick the branch of service he wanted.
"They were taking them right and left back at that time," Clark said. "And I figured I'd be going anyway, so I volunteered."
Clark went through several types of training and was based at Camp Pendleton to train with marines, where he learned to fire an assortment of weapons.
Clark said he did two tours in Vietnam totaling nearly two-years. He went through two TET offensives, where the enemy would mount major attacks.
During one excursion to go up river to blow up an enemy barge, his unit took on fire, killing one and wounding another. During a second attempt his unit narrowly escaped.
"There's a small marine base up there. They could reach it with their big guns from the demilitarized zone and they started shelling and we cut the lines. And about 10 minutes from the time we left, we heard that they leveled the base," Clark said. "So I guess we was lucky that we pulled out."
His jobs included damage control and small craft and patrol boat repair.
Clark received a commendation from then-President Richard Nixon for continuous fighting, a citation for meritorious services, a National Defense
Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal, two stars and a Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device.
Clark said he wouldn't want to go through again a lot of the experiences he had in Vietnam. But not everything was horrific, Clark said, like a house and a railroad he helped to build
Clark has worked for Curwood in Centerville since 2000.
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Vietnam veteran James C. Clark, now 61, of rural Appanoose County.
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Appanoose County's rank jumps from 83rd to 2nd in one year
