Two Bullets Changed My Life - Gene Murphy

 190, that was my military draft lottery number in 1972. By then, more than 57,323 Americans had sacrificed their lives in the conflict in Vietnam. The highest lottery number called for service in 1971 was 95. Looked like it would be that number or less in `72. I felt like I had dodged a bullet.

 As it turns out that wasn't the case for Gene Murphy of White, South Dakota as he shared with me his Vietnam experience in this 2015 interview.

One day he innocently stopped by the Selective Service Office to check the status of his student deferment, before he knew what hit him, at age 19, Gene Murphy would soon find himself in a place that would change his life forever - Vietnam. Drafted into the U.S. Army, his plan and training was to be a mortarman, but in an instant he was reassigned as an infantryman and in less than a week was sent into the dangerous bush of this Southeastern country half-ways around the world from his South Dakota home.  

As a young Army sergeant in Vietnam in 1969, Murphy was paralyzed by two gunshots to his right side just 30 days before he was scheduled to return home to the United States.  His injury would not only prevent him from ever walking again, but would set him on a long history of advocacy on behalf of disabled veterans. Almost immediately on his return from Vietnam when he became a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and would later serve as DAV National Commander in 1987-88.  This is his story.

To see Gene's full interview click here.