Gregory Dominik Bodell

May 22, 1948 - December 27, 1992

Gregory D. Bodell was born in Fort Bragg, California on May 22, 1948.

Greg served on active duty in the Army from January 28, 1969 to January 27, 1971.

Greg died in San Francisco, California on December 27, 1992.

Greg Bodell

Gregory D. Bodell

May 22, 1948 -- Dec 27, 1992

I arrived in Vietnam in Nov 1969, Greg had been there since June of 1969, five months longer than I. Greg, therefore
was already a seasoned veteran by the time I got there --- 5 months was a loooong time in the Nam. We were in
Bravo Company of the 1-22 Infantry, 4th Inf Division. Greg and I were in Sgt Richard Buenzle’s squad. I spent my entire tour,
until he went home, with Greg in the same squad. A squad had between 4-5 men. You rarely left each others sight. Others came and went
and were good friends, such as John Broussard, but Greg, Buenzle and myself stayed together.

Greg was extremely, totally dependable, always. In all facets. Responsible to a fault. Fair and hard working, always carrying his load,
and often more. He never shirked a duty nor dodged a responsibility. Ever.

He was a good soldier. Brave when necessary, steady under all conditions. Stoic.

Greg embodied the best of those around him. It is not to say that Greg was a follower, so to speak, for that is not true.
He definitely marched to the beat of his own drummer and was certainly his own man. But, he did listen to, and heed the advice
of those around him. While in Vietnam he was, we all were, fortunate to be blessed with good leaders and good enlisted cadre
in our platoon. For some of us the level of people we were around in Vietnam was superior to the level of people we were around
as civilians. Our leaders and superiors became our family and in some cases a better, more supportive and encouraging family
than we had in real life. I know that his family life back in the States, at that time, was often unstable and chaotic and I hoped
he would go home to a better situation than he left. I fear that to not be true. For Greg, his time in Vietnam was well spent,
as far as the men around him were concerned. I can only hope he viewed us in the same light, and I think he did.

The rifle squads took turns walking point. Greg was the point man for our squad. Thus, when our squad's turn came,
roughly every third day or so, Greg was our point man.

As a point man, Greg was very observant and had astute powers of concentration. He possessed a single minded focus
that was par excellence. Often, Buenzle walked number two behind Greg, but just as often, it was likely to be me walking
number two behind him. I never had to walk point itself, as I carried the M79, and they always wanted an M16 on point.
Greg was as fine and respected a point man as ever there was, and I came to have the utmost regard for his skills, his courage
and his intelligence while walking point. He knew his business and he bowed to NO man while he was at that business.
I recall one time, when we were moving very slowly through an area that displayed much enemy activity -- I was number two
and word was sent up to me, from the CO, to tell Greg to speed it up, that we needed to cover more ground. Greg sent back word,
"tell him if he wants to go faster, get his own ass up here on point, otherwise shut up" and let Greg do his job. We never heard another word.
Course, we all got a big kick out of it later!

Greg, had his lighter side though, even on point. One time, he was maybe 10 meters in front of me -- but, my job as number two,
was to keep him visually within my sight at all times, and of course cover him. I had his back, as they say, more often
than you can imagine -- and he drops down and rips off a burst with his 16, instantly probably taking ten years off my life
by scaring the crap out of me! Cause, I didn't see a thing. Well, he swore, he THOUGHT he saw a tiger. But, even with me,
for ever after, he always had that twinkle in his eye when he said it. I think he just opened up for the heck of it and to keep
everyone on their toes. Course, if he'd have admitted that, he'd have gotten in big trouble. You can shoot at tigers, but you
couldn't shoot at trees!

Now, there was indeed a reason for Greg to be a little leery of tigers. Let me tell you the Greg Bodell tiger story. There really
isn't that much to it, but it does take a little explaining. He had a much scarier version that he sometimes pulled on the new guys.
In 1969 the 4th Inf Div had a "tool" they employed to gain intelligence on enemy troop movement. The tool was three GI's
dropped off in the boonies, all by their lonesome for three days and nights. We called these GreenEyes. The 3 of you would load up
all the ammo, water, radio batteries (and radio) you could possibly carry and load on a chopper, which would swoop into a
pre arranged LZ (landing zone) and set down and roar away, leaving you all by your lonesome. You were supposed to watch,
listen, observe and not make contact -- yeah, right!

Well, Greg and two other guys, and I can't for the life of me remember who was with him, were out on a GreenEye and one of the
other guys, not Greg, fell asleep on guard duty. Greg Bodell did NOT sleep on guard duty, if it was his watch, he pulled it..
---- Now with only 3 guys and maybe, who knows, 12 hours of darkness, there was a lot of guard to pull. Anyhow, while the
3 of them were asleep, in the absolute pitch black, a tiger, I'm sure operating off smell (and he may have never smelled a human in his life)
crept up and we assumed was right at Greg's head. Who knows for positive, cause they were all asleep. And, probably Greg moved,
or rolled over and scared the tiger. It took a huge swipe at his head. Now, here's the weird part --- mosquitoes were so bad that
we slept completely covered up, head and all, by our poncho liner --- evidently the tigers claws caught in the poncho liner and it
bounded away in the blink of an eye -- Thank God!! We assume dragging the poncho liner. Anyway, they never found the poncho liner
the next day at day light. Gone. Forever. I guess the tiger has still got it.

Greg told me that in all honesty, all he knew was he was sound asleep and it felt like someone hit him in the head with a 2x4,
or a baseball bat. And, he was bleeding like a stuck hog. Course they did awaken in time to hear the brush breaking as the tiger left,
but no one actually saw it.

That's about it. He did say, instead of being awake and knocked out with a baseball bat, he was asleep and knocked awake!
They had to wait for first light to get a dust off chopper to pick him up. He did bleed a lot. He was out for a couple of weeks and then
--- right back out to the field.

We would kid him and ask him why that tiger wanted his poncho liner so badly, if he wanted it so badly Greg should have just
given it to him.

Greg always seemed to be philosophical about it -- it could have been a lot worse.

Yeah, stoic.

It seems everyone from mine and Greg’s generation has an opinion about the Vietnam War. There are those of us who felt then,
and still feel, that it was a justifiable war and that the vast majority of the men who fought it were honorable and served proudly,
even when they were draftees. The simple fact that a person was drafted in no way was indicative of their degree of patriotism
nor of their beliefs in the cause, Capitalism vs. Communism. Many men came home only to fall victim of, not the horrors of war,
but rather the “horrors” of stateside America. They came to believe the vilified picture of soldiers painted by the anti-war factions,
and the hammered at injustice of the war. Or, at the very least, the indifference of the country at large. Greg Bodell saw combat,
and combat can indeed be stressful, but Greg never committed acts that would forever cause him to carry guilt, nor did he
participate, nor witness acts that would mar him for life. Not in Vietnam.

It was an honor and a privilege to serve with Greg. Not simply to serve with him, but to serve right beside him. It was also,
at times, a joy to serve with someone of such high caliber. I’m proud to have known him, I’m proud to call him my friend
and I’m the better man for it. I’ll carry him with me forever and cherish the memories of our time together.
I’ll miss him. He was a good man.

Jim Henderson

Photos of Greg Bodell from Paul Flartey

Thanks to Kathy Root for her research and assistance in the preparation of this page

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