The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1184010
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, November 13, 2019 A-3 LOCAL Call: 812-354-8500 Email: news@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg 435 S. US Hwy. 231, Jasper, IN 812-482-4060 Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9am to 7pm, Sat. 9am to 4pm • All Natural and Organic Turkeys • All Natural Duck • Vegetarian Holiday Roasts available • Assortment of Pies • Stuffings (including Gluten Free varieties) • Party Platters to order and customize • Pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin items! • Items for those with allergies and food sensitivities. • All are sure to please your crowd. Pregnant... or think you are? Call:1-877-257-1084 or Locally Call: 1-812-354-2814 • Free pregnancy testing • Free counseling and info. on pregnancy options. • Confi dential counseling for women & men who are suff ering from post-abortion syndrome. • Residential Care • Health and assistance referrals. • Training and education. • Assistance in getting baby and maternity clothes washpcc@sbcglobal.net www.washingtonpregnancycenter.com Delicious Fresh Baked Fruit Pies, Cobblers & Tarts... Apple, Cherry, Blackberry, Pumpkin, Pecan and Rhubarb Order your THANKSGIVING PIES from US!! Located on Highway 41 5 miles North of Vincennes 812-324-9010 Open Mon-Sat. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. CLOSING FOR SEASON NOV. 27 Apple Hill Orchard HOMEMADE Apple Cider & Noodles on and called baby killers. Pickett said he didn't face any of that, but he did sense "animosity" from people as he arrived home. Once back in the United States, Pick- ett was stationed in Colorado. However, he was given a two- week leave. "My girlfriend was wait- ing on me and we got married before I had to go back to Colorado Springs. She said she want- ed to go with me." So they packed up and moved to Colo- rado. Terry, a Peters- burg native, daugh- ter of Bill and Vir- ginia Wilson, said she loved Colorado. Pickett said he went from the tropical heat in Vietnam to the winter in the Colora- do mountains. While in the Army, he earned: the National De- fense Service Medal, Viet- nam Service Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, Vietnam Campaign Medal and Army commendation Medal. A fter he finished his time in the military, he returned to Vincennes and his weld- ing job. "I welded for four years, then I decided I want- ed to get more education." He went to the Bible Col- lege in Cincinnati and grad- uated from it in 1979. "I have been in the ministry ever since," said Pickett. He has ministered at three By Andy Heuring Petersburg resident Greg Pickett was your typical kid who graduated from high school in the mid-to-late 1960s, trying to make a life for himself. He graduated from Vin- cennes Lincoln in 1966 and went to work full-time as a welder at Railway in Wash- ington. He had worked there since he was 15 years old. "I made and repaired rail cars," said Pickett. He al- so started dating Terry Sue Wilson, of Petersburg. Then in April 1968, with the Vietnam War raging, he got a letter from the U.S. Government informing Pick- ett, "Uncle Sam wants you." He went to basic training in Louisville. A fter eight weeks of basic training, he was then sent to advanced training at Fort Sill in Okla- homa, where he trained to be in the firing center of ar- tillery. He said after graduation from that, he got a 20 -day leave and then was sent to Vietnam. "All of the platoon before us were sent to Ger- many. We got orders to go to Vietnam." Pickett flew into the Long Ben Air Base and worked with the 25th In- fantry. In total, Pick- ett served a year in Vietnam. Part of the time, he was with the ar- tillery and for two months of it, he had a giant 40 -pound radio strapped to his back. One of the jobs he did for sever- al months was to help set targets for the artillery. He said during times of battle, they might get sprinkled with shrapnel because the enemy was so close to them. "I was always in the field. I was never in the base camp. Some of the time, I was be- hind the barb wire, but I was always out in the field," said Pickett. "There were no safe plac- es in Vietnam. Even inside the barb wire." He said the enemy would grease their bodies and go under the barriers or cut their way through the barb wire and bring in satchel charges." "If I was carrying the ra- dio, I would get on an ar- mored personnel carrier, go out into the jungle and sweep a road for mines." He said the Viet Cong were extremely good at knowing when to set mines in the roads. "There might be all kinds of traffic on that road and then the next day, when a convoy was going to go down the road, they would have two or three mines on it." Pickett had one of his clos- est calls when they were out going through the jun- gle. He said he was in an Armored Personnel Car- rier (APC). They went out through a gate in the barb wire to an area they had been to before. They went through an area of sparse trees and then into an ar- ea with elephant grass in- to an open field. "I reached down and put the radio on my back. I was putting the radio on my back and the guns started popping. It was AK47s. When you get shot at by them, you always remem- ber it. They didn't hit you un- til they had the advantage," said Pickett. "I was wearing the radio pack that weighed about 40 pounds. I jumped off of the APC with the 40 -lb. pack on my back." He said the APCs and half tracks all circled liked covered wagons in western movies. "I was hugging the ground. Then something came whistling in. In a com- pany like this, they have a mortar tube. The enemy didn't like those. A big fire ball hit the mortar track. That APC was a big fire ball and guys were flying out of it." He said the machine guns in their group burned up two barrels that day. "We got hit at about 8 a.m. and it last- ed until 8 p.m. We lost two APCs and several men." He said it was hard for them to tell how many of the enemy they killed, be- cause they would drag off the bodies. "I look back on it. It's scar- ier when you look back on it. A couple of days later, you have to go back through the same area. It is kind of like having a wreck and then when you drive back through the same area." A fter a year in Vietnam, Pickett got to come back to the United States. He said when he started getting closer to the day to leave, he got more careful. When he got to end of his year, they took them to an airfield and every four hours, they would stand at attention to see if they were the group to get a plane or as they called it, a "Freedom Bird." Finally, his group was called out and they climbed on the plane. "Pilot said, 'Are you boys ready to go home? '" He said Vietnam was dif- ferent than today. Today, groups of men from the same units come back to- gether and are celebrated. But in Vietnam, they trick- led back individually from all over the country and couldn't really be celebrat- ed. Some were heckled, spit Greg Pickett recalls his year in the Vietnam War I was hugging the ground. Then something came whistling in. In a company like this, they have a mortar tube. The enemy didn't like those. A big fire ball hit the mortar track. That APC was a big fire ball and guys were flying out of it." -Greg Pickett churches in Tennessee and Peoria, Ill. He moved back to Knox County for a year or so, then took a church in Kansas. While in Kansas, he became ill and was taken to an emergency room and di- agnosed with Non-Hodg- kins Lymphoma. "Agent Or- ange got me," said Pickett. A fter an extended illness and chemo treatments for five years, he was able to overcome it. He moved back to Petersburg, where he and Terry have lived since 2013. "I'm like an injured foot- ball player, just sitting on the bench. I fill in for Chad (Searls) at the Pilgrim Ho- liness Church," said Pick- ett. Greg Pickett displays his Army uniform from the 1960s. Terry and Greg Pickett's wedding picture. They were married 50 years ago in September. Greg Pickett in his uniform in the late 1960s.