9 minute read
Corpsman Up!
by PJ Roup, 33˚, Editor, Active for Pennsylvania
Corpsman up! It was a cry that Doc had heard countless times since he had landed in Vietnam almost six months earlier. That shout signaled to the hospital corpsmen that there was an injured Marine or soldier at the front of the line. The corpsman’s job was simple: rush to the aid of the wounded soldier and render treatment.
Ill.Donald “Doc” Ballard, 33°, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and lived a typical life. He was a weightlifter and wrestler who dreamed of being a dentist. He had completed two years of college before enlisting in the Navy, purportedly to further his dental career. The Navy, however, had other plans for him. They told him they needed corpsmen – really the precursor to today’s paramedic – and that would be his new job in the Navy. “That was that,” Doc joked. Humor is one of Doc’s best ways of dealing with all he saw while he was there.
“I treated the people where they were,” Ballard recalled. “Battle dressed them, controlled their hemorrhage, treated them to keep them alive.” Once they were stable, he or the other Marines in the unit would drag them to the back of the line for more treatment out of the direct line of fire.
The Fateful Day
On May 16, 1968, Doc found himself at the tip of the spear, just a few miles south of the Demilitarized Zone in the province of Quang Tri. Doc had just finished loading two soldiers suffering from heat exhaustion onto a helicopter and was returning to his platoon when he and the Marines he was traveling with found themselves in an ambush.
Corpsman up!
Doc heard the call and made his way toward the injured Marines as he had so many times before.
“I had drug this one guy back in a fireman’s carry and laid him off my shoulders onto the ground,” he said. “I started treating him, and what I didn’t know was that I had laid him on top of a grenade.” The blast blew off both of the soldier’s legs, severely injured another’s face, and knocked Ballard back to the ground. “So now I’ve got two new patients.”
He was placing a tourniquet on the injured Marine’s leg when a second grenade struck his helmet. “It fell down at my knees. I looked down, and there was this damn grenade lying there. So I grabbed it, and I flung it out of the bomb crater, and it went off in the air.”
The blast blew off both of the soldier’s legs, severely injured another’s face, and knocked Ballard back to the ground.
As he recounted the story, I got another glimpse of Doc’s humorous side. “When I tell this story in public, I like to take them for a ride. Get them to laugh, get them to cry. So I usually say that when I saw the grenade, not being a Marine, I didn’t stick it in my pocket as a souvenir, so I decided to throw it away,” adding as an aside, “I pick on Marines sometimes because I can!” The deep bond between him and the Marines he served alongside was palpable through much of our interview.
After disposing of the second grenade, Ballard immediately went back to the business at hand. He was tightening the tourniquets on his patient when the Marines behind him began shouting. Doc! Grenade! Grenade! Ballard saw a live grenade right behind him. Instinct kicked in. “I hollered, ‘Grenade,’ and I jumped on it.” Brother Ballard felt God’s presence in that moment. “I told him to get away from me because I was going to get him killed. I said that for real,” he added somberly. It was then that he heard God’s voice, “Well, you’re not too smart. Better get rid of that thing.”
“So I grabbed it, and I flung it out of the bomb crater, and it went off in the air.”
As quickly as he was able, he pulled the grenade out from under his chest and rolled onto his back. “I flung it into the air as hard as I could, as fast as I could.” The grenade exploded in the air.
Ballard’s selfless act would earn him the Medal of Honor.
“When I flung that grenade and it went off, nobody saw me do that. So my official citation (page 27) says that I got up off it, and I just calmly arose and just left it there for somebody to kick it or have it go off.”
Finding the Bright Side
Ballard doesn’t consider himself a hero. He was just doing his job, a job that he was proud of. He was shot (or hit by shrapnel) eight times during his time on the battlefield. Despite the atrocities he witnessed, both in Vietnam and upon his return home, where a fellow soldier from his flight was stabbed to death by a war protester, he still sees some benefits that came from it, noting, “The paramedics on the street today are a result of Vietnam, the training we got.”
Ballard, in fact, eventually became a paramedic. Upon returning to the states, Ballard served in the Kansas Army National Guard, retiring as a colonel in 2000. His decorations include the Medal of Honor as well as the Purple Heart with two Gold Stars. In his civilian life, he served as a Kansas City police officer, and when the city bought their first ambulance (again, Don noted the tie to Vietnam as the origin of the modern-day paramedic service), he transferred to the fire department. “I had the corpsman attitude and wanted to be a paramedic… so I went from police to fire.” He spent thirty years there and retired as a fire captain at age 60. That’s when Brother Don found his true calling.
Caring for Veterans –A Life of Purpose
Since returning from the war, Brother Ballard has remained a staunch advocate for veterans. He continues to speak, travel, raise funds, and advocate for the welfare of our service men and women.
“I never got into it because I wanted a career,” he laughed. “I got into it to help the veterans and first responders.”
After hearing that a friend and fellow Vietnam veteran had died in the VA hospital, he and some other vets wanted to give him a proper burial, but without a next of kin, the VA was reluctant to help. Even the local funeral directors weren’t able to do much despite the fact that Doc and his friends had raised the $10,000 needed for the funeral. The VA, by regulation, cremated his body before they could intervene.
He estimates that the foundation has given nearly $1,000,000 and helped hundreds of people have a dignified end to their lives.
“We’re sitting around crying in our beer about how we failed him. The conversation got around to, We need to find a funeral director to help us.” All eyes turned to Doc since he was the only one with medical training.
A short while later, at age 60, Brother Don took the first steps in his new career as a funeral director. “I never got into it because I wanted a career,” he laughed. “I got into it to help the veterans and first responders.” Thus was born the Triumphant Spirit Foundation.
Doc, now a member of Blue Springs Lodge No. 337 in Blue Springs, Missouri, and the Valley of Canton, Ohio, had not yet joined the Masons, but once he joined and saw the good works the Freemasons do, he included them in his aid. “Today, we take anybody that does something good for the community and does not have a way to get an honorable, dignified funeral.”
Monies raised from the foundation take care of the funeral needs of veterans, first responders, and Masons. Doc volunteers his time and talent, even renting caskets to keep the costs to the foundation to a minimum. “I don’t make any money in the funeral business,” he said, “because I can’t bring myself to tell the loved ones it’s $5,000. Even though everyone else is around $10,000, I still have a hard time asking for $5,000.” He estimates that the foundation has given nearly $1,000,000 and helped hundreds of people have a dignified end to their lives.
Brother Ballard is rightly proud of the work he has done, and he shows no signs of stopping. He understands that navigating the death of a loved one can be overwhelming and scary. “If somebody’s got a question revolving around the death industry,
I’m here to answer questions and help,” he said. That’s not just idle talk. He means it. “They can reach me at colonel_ballard_moh@yahoo.com. I will help the best I can.”
Doc is a man who has spent his life serving others. He is the selfless servant that we should all aspire to be. Reflecting on what he continues to do, he noted, “I’m not here because I want the job, or I want the prestige, or I want the money. I get none of that. I get selfsatisfaction knowing that I’ve helped God’s children, and I helped them in their journey back home to Him.”
To donate or learn more about the Triumphant Spirit Foundation, visit TriumphantSpiritFoundation.org.
Do you have an interesting hobby, event, or recreational activity that you would like to share with us? If so, contact editor@srnmj.org and let us know about it. You just might find yourself featured in a coming issue.
