Ken Beaton
Quick, what’s the last word in our National Anthem? It’s OK if you have to either sing or speak the lyrics. You got it correct, “brave.” As a nation we’re the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary defines the word brave as “to face the onslaught of something unpleasant with courage and resolution. To defy something despite there being only a small chance of being victorious.”
Mike Clausen was born in New Orleans on Oct. 14, 1947, which makes him one of 77 million “Baby Boomers,” those born between 1946 and 1964. Most of the “grunts” on the ground in Vietnam were “Boomers.”
On the surface, Clausen seemed to be your average teen. He was a 1965 graduate from Hammond High School who attended Southeastern Louisiana University for six months. Somehow Clausen caught “The few, the proud, the Marines” bug. He enlisted in the Reserve Marines on March 30, 1966. Two months later he was discharged to enlist in the regular Marine Corps on May 27, 1966.
He survived recruit training from his drill instructor, who only yelled and never perspired. Little did the Marine recruits know that all the DIs changed into a clean and pressed shirt five or six times each day to give the appearance that they never sweat.
After completing Boot Camp, he received his jet engine mechanic training with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 365 (HMM-364). In December 1967 he received his orders to join the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force Pacific. He was ordered to return to the U.S. after his tour in the Pacific.
His second tour of duty began in November 1969 when he was assigned to HMM-263, MAG-16, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. Two months later, Jan. 31, 1970, his helicopter’s mission was to rescue Marines under heavy fire who were stranded in a mine field near Da Nang.
This is the dangerous part of Mike’s story. His commanding officer gave him a direct order, “Stay in the chopper!” Completely disregarding the direct order, he made six trips through the minefield. He carried back a total of 11 wounded and one dead Marine. The corps has a rule, “Leave NO MAN behind!” He made sure that every Marine was accounted inside the CH-46 Sea King helicopter.
Later in the year, on Aug. 19, 1970, he was ordered to return to the U.S. and honorably discharged from active duty as a PFC. But wait, there’s more. He was notified to appear at the White House on June 15, 1971, where President Richard M. Nixon presented the 23-year-old with the Medal of Honor.
Before I began writing Vietnam vet stories, I did some research on a U.S. government website in 2021. Of the 2.7 to 2.8 million of our boys who served in Vietnam, only 31 percent of them are vertical today. When you do the math, between 837,000 to 868,000 Vietnam vets are still vertical. There are roughly 1,897,500 of our boys who returned from Vietnam vertical, but they’re horizontal now. I’m proposing that two categories have been under reported, cancer from Agent Orange and suicides. Think about it! Who doesn’t know one or more Vietnam vets who had cancer and survived, who is currently receiving cancer treatment or who died from cancer or suicide?
Mike contracted cancer and was being treated in one of the best hospitals in our country, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Despite Baylor’s excellent medical treatment, Mike died of liver failure on May 30, 2004, at age 56. He was buried in Ponchatoula Cemetery in Ponchatoula, La., with full military honors.
The reason why Mike was treated at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas is because Ross Perot heard about his cancer. Ross sent his personal jet to fly Mike to Dallas to receive the best medical care. He paid for all of Mike’s medical expenses. This was an example of a former military man helping another military man in need.
More than 60 years ago I read Steven Crane’s book, “Red Badge of Courage.” The book is timeless because the questions/fears each soldier faced in the Civil War are the same fears faced by every soldier in his late teens in a fox hole with his weapon in his hands, “Will I be able to pull the trigger when I come face to face with an enemy soldier to earn my red badge of courage, or will I run like a coward?”
Private First-Class Raymond M. Clausen earned the following, his Red Badge of Courage, the USMC Combat Aircrew Badge, the Air Medal (with four Gold Stars), the Combat Action Ribbon, the Purple Heart, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal (with one bronze star), the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, the Vietnam Campaign Medal with device, the Rifle Sharpshooter Badge and the Vietnam War Medal of Honor (MOH).
Well done, Marine!