Caleb Mills, Quiet Hero

While researching my book "Died on the Fourth of July" I decided to see what I could find about some of the Vietnam veterans I served with in the Army. I hasten to add I'm not a Vietnam vet. I served as a wet-behind-the-ears Second Lieutenant after the war, 1974-76, stationed at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. I was initially the Race Relations/Equal Opportunity Officer and then the Executive Officer of Headquarters Company.

Many of my counterparts at Dugway had served in Vietnam. One whose memory stands out is Caleb R. Mills, who was a Captain at the time. We played softball together on an officers’ team.

One day as we were warming up for a game, the bugle call of Retreat came over the post loudspeaker, as it did every day at 1700 hours. Protocol dictates that you face the main post flagpole and stand quietly at attention, hand over heart. Caleb, who was wearing a ragged t-shirt and sweat pants, didn’t just put his hand over his heart, he rendered a snappy salute.

When the music stopped, one of the other officers said to him, “You don’t have to salute.” Caleb replied with a smile, “I got shot for that flag. I’ll salute it if I want to.”

Even though I lived down the street from Caleb and we worked in the same building, I never knew he had been wounded during the first of his two tours in Vietnam. Only when I was researching this book did I learn that Caleb’s heroism earned him a Silver Star. When he was an infantry platoon leader, a mortar round landed in his command post, wounding him, his platoon sergeant, and his radio-telephone operator. Although he suffered severe neck wounds, Caleb gave medical treatment to others.  After he evacuated the wounded men he continued to command his platoon and help evacuate casualties from adjacent units.

Although Caleb was a bona fide hero, he never bragged about his combat record. When I tracked him down at his home in Nevada, he was just as patriotic and just as self-effacing as ever. He retired from the Army and then had a successful career in business. To me, Caleb Mills exemplifies the bravery, modesty and patriotism I saw in the Vietnam veterans with whom I served.