In August 1965 Milt Moody wasn’t happy with his life situation, so he decided to join the Army.
The Midland, Texas native was 23, divorced and had a young daughter. He worked for Humble Oil and Refining Company, which later became part of Exxon.
“It seemed like at that point in time I had too much pressure. I just decided to join the Army,” Moody said. “At that time, I didn’t think about going to Vietnam.
“It was just something I wanted to do,” he said of enlisting.
Moody asked for infantry, armor and artillery school, in that order. But after advanced individual training for the infantry at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, his score on the officer candidate test qualified him for officer candidate school in the unfilled specialty of combat engineer. He completed OCS at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in August 1966 and became a second lieutenant engineer officer. Demolition was one of their main classes. “We basically learned how to use explosives,” Moody said.
He was a platoon leader with 593rd Engineer Company at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, when he got orders to Vietnam.
The second lieutenant left San Francisco for Vietnam on his 25th birthday in August 1967. He spent his yearlong tour as a platoon leader in Company D, 554th Engineer Battalion, in Cu Chi, a 25,000-man base camp about 30 miles northwest of Saigon. The 554th was part of the 20th Engineer Brigade. Cu Chi was primarily the base camp for the 25th Infantry Division.
“We were primarily construction,” Moody said. “We had a lot of heavy equipment – you know, dozers, maintainers, 5-ton dump trucks. I did a lot of mine sweeps.”
Nearly every day, an Army convoy came up from Saigon with equipment which had to be distributed to various compounds all the way through South Vietnam to the Cambodian border. With their infantry escorts, Moody and his men would sweep for mines in their section of the road along Highway 1.
If and when they (the infantry) detected something they thought to be a mine, me and my men would move forward and determine what kind of situation it was,” he said. “We’d place a charge on it and blow it in place. We used a material called C-4.”
In mid-September 1967, he received a nighttime assignment to fill a large hole on Highway 1 outside the Cu Chi base camp. The crater was left by the explosion of an armored personnel carrier that ran over a mine, killing several Soldiers onboard. “We filled in the hole,” Moody said. “From what I was told, there were body parts and what have you.”
Moody received an Army Commendation Medal for his actions Feb. 26, 1968, on Route 8A in the village of Tan Hoa, east of Cu Chi. During a firefight from 1-7 p.m., he was under intense enemy fire while carrying from the battlefield members of the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. He called in Huey helicopters for support.
During Moody’s year, one member of his platoon died but the company lost several Soldiers. The 554th Engineer Battalion received unit citations.
“I’ve got three daughters and two stepdaughters. I tell my daughters, ‘You’re lucky to be here,’” Moody said. “I was just in harm’s way many, many times.”
He left the Army as a first lieutenant in August 1968 and returned to his job in Midland. He remarried within a year but his second marriage ended after 15 years and two daughters. Moody worked as an insurance agent several years for both State Farm and Farmers Insurance. He entered the construction business and he was a self-employed general contractor in construction until retiring five years ago.
The San Angelo, Texas resident and his third wife, Teresa, have been married 21 of the 36 years they’ve been together. He has three daughters, two stepdaughters, seven grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
Moody, 80, played and coached roller hockey for 60 years until he was 72. He was 12 when he was introduced to the sport in 1954. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Roller Skating Rink Operators of America, based in Lincoln, Nebraska. His hometown Midland team was The Silver Wheels. “The team that actually got us started was a team out of Lubbock, Texas, the Rolling Ghosts,” Moody said. His team in San Angelo, the Aces, won several national championships in the silver division.
“I’ve got generations of kids that started with me when they were 10, 11, 12 years old. Now they’re in their early 50s,” he said. “I coached for all those years. I brought up several generations of kids throughout the years.”
He belongs to the Disabled American Veterans, and he has a 10% disability rating from Veterans Affairs. Moody stays in touch with Gary Kerr, of Grand Blanc, Michigan, who was his jeep driver in Vietnam.
He shared his thoughts on this nation’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.
“I just go back to the 58,000-plus men that actually lost their lives over there and all the men that served over there that have passed away since that time,” Moody said. “It’s those people that I think about.”
| Date Taken: | 01.03.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.03.2024 13:08 |
| Story ID: | 461242 |
| Location: | HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA, US |
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