Marines Take Care of Their Own, Even 40 Years Later

Marines are taught to stick by each other no matter what, and they do tend to do just that. Over 40 years ago Jim Clay, Jim Gates and Lee Gaddis were friends in the 3^rd Battalion, 4th Marines in Vietnam. Their story got some attention when a North Carolina television station (WLOS-News 13) ran this piece about them. It shows that Semper Fidelis is more than just a Marine catchphrase to these men. Marines do indeed take care of their own.

Lee Gaddis has had health problems for some time now which ended up causing several strokes. Gaddis had to retire early from a good job for the power company, REA in Waynesville North Carolina due to his health issues probably caused by Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam.

Gaddis, Gates and Clay were in the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and Gaddis told me they carried the colors for their Marine Division as they left Vietnam. Facebook helped the 3 men reunite and Gates and Clay plan to help Gaddis get better health care for his Vietnam related health problems. Marines take care of their own even 40 years later. Jim Clay told me the following "The bond is real and we will make sure "Hillbilly" gets the care he needs" via email when I told him about this article.

Lee Gaddis did not have the best life he could have hoped for when he returned form Vietnam. A divorce from his first wife, left a widower by his second wife, the early deaths of his father, sister, an infant niece and a brother in law who lost his own fight with Agent Orange.

Lee Gaddis was an avid outdoorsman when his health was intact. He loved deer hunting, trout and bass fishing and is very knowledgeable about wildlife and the plants that are native to Western North Carolina. He was almost feared by the Haywood County carnival workers because he would clean them out of prizes by throwing a baseball like a pro.

Lee Gaddis does not do those things anymore. His outdoor activity now entails walking up a steep hill by his house to a local store and back down several times a day. He does so with the aid of a cane and spots the occasional black snake slithering across the road but not the wildlife he so loved to see in his youth.

Lee Gaddis is proud of his service in the Marines but he needs his health issues addressed that were probably caused by Agent Orange while he served his country. When I mentioned to Gaddis that my stepson is going into the Marines, he replied "Well at least he is going into a good outfit." Lee was especially proud of being in the 3^rd Battalion, 4^th Marine Regiment in Vietnam in 1968-1969. I urge you to visit the sources section at the bottom of this article for more info on the 3^rd Battalion, 4^th Marine Regiment.

Vietnam veterans were treated badly from the time they went to war to even now. They were shunned or even attacked by their fellow citizens and mistreated by the government that sent them to a war that nobody wanted them to win. Vietnam veterans have learned they need to stick together and often will only discuss the war with people who had been there too.

Many of you who read my stuff know I tend to write about conservative topics at times and am very pro military. You may also have noticed that I know a lot about "Hillbilly" Lee Gaddis and his health problems. I should because I don't know him as Hillbilly or Lee, I know him as Uncle Junior. The brother in law he lost to Agent Orange related cancer was my dad, James Inman. Semper Fi, Uncle Junior.

Sources

http://www.i-mef.usmc.mil/div/7mar/3bn4/moh.asp - Medal of Honor Winners from 3^rd Battalion, 4^th Marines

http://thundering-third.org/ Reunion and other info for 3^rd Battalion, 4^th Marines

http://www.i-mef.usmc.mil/div/7mar/3bn4/lineage.asp More info on the unit.