In 2001, Johnny Ace with some of his Clifton family which includes Patricia Motyl, Larry Motyl, Jane Motyl, Lois Ace Uhleman, Joseph Gebbia, Arnold Uhleman, Susan Ace, Tammy Motyl Gebbia, Joseph Motyl, Christian Motyl, Jake Gebbia and Lisa Uhleman Bisher.
be dampened. Most of my feet, the skin fell off. Your feet are always wet. It still bothers me to this day. I’ve got dead nerves under my toes.” Over the course of his 13 month deployment, Ace estimated that he participated in 10 major operations, eventually taking over the lead of the platoon at just 19 years of age. Eventually, his paperwork was sorted out and he was attached to the 1st Marines. “Major fire fights and all that stuff, I remember very clearly,” he said. “We were in combat just about every single day because we had the helicopters. The average infantry man in Vietnam spent 240 days in combat out of 13 months. In World War II, they spent about 40 days in combat out of four years. The whole thing was mobility.” Ace said that the harsh weather conditions, boobytraps and constant ambushes took a mental toll on him and his comrades. In a June 1967 letter home to his mom and dad, Ace wrote bluntly about the action, some of the conditions and the things he saw. It was later published that year in a local newspaper. The booby traps and mines took most of the Marines. It’s not a pretty sight, Mom. Especially when it’s your good buddies getting it out there. I watch them fall and 24 May 2013 • Clifton Merchant
try to help but I have to keep my men going cause if we don’t find Charlie in a hurry he’ll only get more of us. So we have to kill him and everyone who sympathizes with him. They are all no good, Mom. I shoot everyone of them I see. But despite the killing and chaos going on around him in Vietnam, Ace said he tried to do his best to stay focused in the field and complete his 13 month tour. “Everybody counted the days. When you’re with infantry company, if you make it to three months, you got a pretty good shot of making it out of there. We lost many guys because they were new,” he said. “I used to go by month when I was still in the field. When I was supposed to be out I really wasn’t even thinking about home... I was thinking about staying alive. At one point I am still in the field on my last day and they send a chopper in for me and take me out. I didn’t think about rotating. If you think about it, it may take away from your attention span that you need to keep your ass alive.” When he was discharged in October of 1967, Ace was nominated for the Bronze Star, and ended up receiving the Navy Commendation Medal, which is one of the most prestigious honors in the Navy.