(Photo Provided) Larry Proctor poses in uniform in front of his first car in October 1967 before leaving for San Francisco.

Larry Proctor prides himself on his ability to help veterans in his community, which stems from his own extensive military experience and the hardships that came with it.

In 1966, Marietta-native Proctor was attending his third year at the University of Cincinnati with an undeclared major, which placed him in academic suspension. Then, he got the fateful letter in the mail that said he was to be drafted into the military and sent to Vietnam.

“I got my draft notice, my letter from Uncle Sam two days later. The university had already submitted my name because they were drafting people like crazy,” Proctor said.

“My best buddy in high school was like ‘let’s join the Air Force, man. We’ll be safer,’ and I said ‘I’m just gonna take my chances. I’m gonna go in and get it over with, then get out,'” Proctor said. “I didn’t realize how much I was going to like it.”

After he was drafted, Proctor said he was given a lengthy test to determine where he would fit best.

(Photo Provided) Larry Proctor completed his advanced infantry training at Fort Polk in Louisiana in August 1967.

“It’s monumental. It’s like 440 questions or something,” Proctor said. “That’s like two hours.”

From the test results, he was placed as a combat infantry soldier in a reconnaissance group consisting of two squads of six men.

“The dumb people like me answered questions like ‘yes, I used to squirrel hunt on my grandparent’s farm when I was a kid,’…we joked about ‘we answered all the questions wrong, yes, I went camping, I shot squirrels, rabbits,'” Proctor said. “We were naive country boys. We didn’t know how to lie.”

Proctor described himself as a “class clown” in school that didn’t let things get under his skin. He carried that ethos into the military with surprising success.

He remembers having a respectful relationship with his drill sergeant, who he initially frustrated but grew to appreciate Proctor’s unshakable humor.

(File Photo) Larry Proctor holds a photo of the Purple Heart Monument dedicated on Aug. 7, 2024, at Gold Star Park on Lancaster Street in Marietta.

“He liked me. He respected my attitude,” Proctor said.

Proctor said his squad was tasked with reporting on movements made by the enemy, which was difficult due to the terrain and thick vegetation of the jungle his squad was stationed at. Oftentimes, the grass was as tall as 15 feet and Proctor and his other squad leader had to use a machete to chop through the grass to make sense of where they were.

“We’re in elephant grass. When my first man jumped out of the helicopter, we thought we were near the ground. He broke a leg, arm,” Proctors said.

On July 9, 1968, Proctor decided to not follow the rules and gave an unexpected helping hand that ultimately helped save a member of his squad and earned him the Purple Heart.

“We come to a fork in the trail. The clear one that we’re on goes down, and you’re always looking to end up on a high spot. High ground is easily defended,” Proctor said. “The officer stops me and he goes ‘Let’s go this way, it’s quicker. It’s gonna go straight up the hill.'”

During their trek, the squad member tripped a landmine hidden under the thick grass of the trail, which Proctor said killed three squad members and injured the rest, including a dog and its handler. Proctor was hit in his shoulder with shrapnel from the explosion.

“It knocked me with my 86 pounds of gear,” Proctor said. “You don’t feel anything because of adrenaline. But when you’re the guy in charge, I don’t have time to be wounded here.”

Proctor said soldiers receive only one bandage to use because any extra weight added to the gear can make traveling more difficult. Soldiers save their bandages to only use on themselves in an emergency.

“I didn’t know the German Shepherd’s saliva stopped the bleeding…he’s licking his dog handler’s wounds and then the blood is just squirting out of its leg,” Proctor said. “I don’t know I’m wounded yet. I grab my first aid bandage and I put it on the dog.”

The doctors told Proctor that if he hadn’t used his first-aid bandage on the dog and made a tourniquet, the dog would have bled out because it took the helicopters two and a half hours to reach the squad after the incident. Even though Proctor sustained an injury from the explosion that he still lives with, he said he was glad to get out after his hospital stay and enjoy the small joys we take for granted.

“When I got out of the hospital 17 days later…I was a happy camper. I had a cold can of Coke,” Proctor said. “Can you imagine going six months in 101 degree heat with no ice?”

During his service, Proctor achieved an E-5 staff sergeant rank in only nine months, which is almost unheard of for an officer.

“One of the other things I’m proud of is I went from sergeant E-3 to E-5 after the smoke cleared from an overnight battle. I was never an E-4. That’s pretty rare,” Proctor said. “Officers could field promote somebody on the spot.”

Once he served his two years as a drafted soldier, he finished his degree in human resource management in 1970.

While he said he’s had a plethora of jobs post-military, such as a forklift operator, warehouse manager, landscaper, and a salesman, Proctor eventually came back to Marietta and joined the Washington County Veterans Service Commission to give back to the veterans in Washington County and help them with their utility bills and other necessary expenses.

“You can go out here and find veterans that don’t even know we exist,” Proctor said. “If they have a legitimate need, I’ll do anything in the world to help them without being judgemental.”

Proctor also is commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Marietta Chapter 743. Last year, a monument was erected at Gold Star Park to honor Purple Heart veterans.

Proctor encourages Purple Heart recipients to attend an outreach event hosted by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1212 from noon-4 p.m. Thursday at 1630 Garfield Ave. in Parkersburg.