WILMINGTON, N.C. — Lyle Parker has lived a remarkable life. He’s traveled the world with his wife, saved lives and fought in the Vietnam War.
The 84-year-old has the conflict documented in journals that he kept throughout his service.
Parker was in Vietnam in 1968, at the high point of the conflict, and was there for one of the war’s most famous attacks — the Tet Offensive.
“The night of Tet they unleashed every military installation,” Parker said. “The U.S. was attacked by the North Viet Cong, or the North Vietnamese.”
It was that night that Parker became a hero. He saved three of his comrades’ lives — something that earned him a Soldier’s Medal.
“It didn’t seem like much,” he said. “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”
While Parker may be humble about his accomplishments, he’s happy to boast about the brave soldiers who fought alongside him.
“Watching these, these very brave kids,” he said, “I mean they were… so much braver than people gave them credit for.”
These journals are helpful to Parker, who now has dementia.
“It’s a cruel disease,” he said, “Because it’s something you really take for granted.”
Parker says it’s impacted a lot of his short-term memory, but his long-term memories — including those in Vietnam — are mostly intact.
His memories of Vietnam are not only of the horrors of war, but also of friends he made, lives he saved, playing handball in a court he built and pushing fellow veterans to live a healthy lifestyle.
He says he’s proud of the life he’s lived, and the lives he and his friends protected at home.
“It was the wildest and craziest time of my life,” he said. “One year that had so many things in it that I can’t even, even writing them down you lose some of the nuance and detail, but it was an experience that can never be replicated.”
