We have begun learning about Gordon Labat who was born in Marshall in 1947, Minnesota to Emerence “Rose” (DeVos) and Henry Labat. Gordon and his siblings grew up on the family farm just east of Marshall.

The Labat’s sent their kids to Holy Redeemer School. Gordon continued his education there with the Central Catholic High School class of 1965. He explained that high school activities were not in the cards for him.

“Dad said, ‘That is for the city kids. You guys are coming home and going to work.’ My school books? I threw them on top of the refrigerator at night and I picked them up on the way out in the morning. I had time because we always had study halls.”

Gordon chose to invest his non-farming time in other ways with his friends Ron Schilling and John Louwagie.

“We’d be working on something, like an old car or something similar. We rebuilt a drive shaft one time out of scrap and had it working perfectly.”

Gordon was not aware of the war in Vietnam while in school, but recalled registering for the draft when he turned eighteen. His post-school plans centered on farming with his dad. The local draft board supported those plans by granting him consecutive farming deferments.

“We expanded. From that original half-section we got the whole section, so we were farming a section at that time.”

Fall 1968 brought a big change to Gordon’s world.

“I was getting farm deferrals and finally they said, ‘No more.’ I got my draft notice and went in the service on the 28th of October.”

Gordon’s older brother, Donnie, had enlisted in the Army earlier, so his folks already had a son in the service. Gordon recalled they did not say anything when he lost his draft deferment. He explained the process of entering the Army

“It was to the Twin Cities for a physical and then I flew out that night. I think Mom and Dad drove me because I knew I was leaving that day if I passed my physical.”

The trainee’s reception at Fort Campbell left an impression.

“We got there at night and it was dark. We moved around pretty fast. Those Drill Sergeants knew what they were doing. They were having fun telling us what to do. They let us go to sleep and then they woke us up again by four in the morning. (Gordon laughed) They just came in there and started hollering.”

Gordon described their first experience of their first day in-processing.

“I think the first thing they did was put us underneath the razor. Some of these guys had the long hair and short hair and all different kinds. When they finished everyone looked alike. I remember the barber asked one guy, ‘How do you want your hair cut?’ He replied, ‘You mean I have got a choice?’ The barber said, ‘Yeah,’ and then ‘zip.’ It went off. (Gordon laughed) ‘That’s your choice!'”

The new trainees continued in-processing with inoculations, uniform issue, and beginning their service records. The final day involved the Drill Sergeants calling out trainee’s names for their training company assignments.

Gordon described his training company barracks.

“It was three, two-story barracks. Each floor had two rows of beds – one row on each side. You had an aisle and then there were two double-tiered bunk beds – a top and bottom. Each bed had a footlocker.”

The trainees worked to keep their barracks clean and organized, with waxed floors buffed to a high shine as their Drill Sergeants pushed them through an accelerated Basic Training cycle.

“When we got there on October 28th they said, “We want you home for Christmas,’ so they were putting nine weeks into seven.”

It was seven weeks of early morning formations, runs, and physical training; under-cooked eggs in the mess hall; and rifle range qualification with the M-14 rifle. The physical training was not particularly challenging for Gordon.

“I could pretty well do whatever they wanted. Being in shape was helpful. I was throwing 400 bales an hour when I was on the farm.”

Gordon laughed as he remembered going through the infiltration and escape and evasion courses.

“Infiltration Training (crawling under barbed wire obstacles while gunners fired over their heads) was fun and at night, they had Escape and Evasion (E&E). Beforehand we were looking where the roads and the boundaries were. That night when we escaped I and this other guy took off. There was a little town called Roy that we went to; had a beer; and walked back around. (Gordon laughed) They didn’t get us.

Gordon graduated from Basic Training and went home on thirty days Christmas leave with orders to report to Fort Lewis, Washington in late January for Advanced Individual Training (AIT) in the Infantry.

Gordon remembered, “We knew we were going to Vietnam. That was clear from the beginning.”

©William D. Palmer2024 You can reach me at prairieviewpressllc@gmail.com with any comments about or story suggestions for “Prairie Lives.”