LAGRANGE – For Marine Doug Chamberlain, every day the sun comes up is a good day.
He said this attitude is not only reflective of his advanced age, but also his time in combat during the Vietnam War. Chamberlain was drafted into service in 1965. He didn’t choose to serve, but in the end, he was honorably discharged from the war as a captain.
While he is honored to have had the opportunity to serve his country and it’s taught him to value life, Chamberlain said the war has had a negative effect on his well-being.
It all goes back to one order.
“The most dramatic, lifelong experience that I had was when I was ordered to bury a Marine, who had been left behind by another unit and forced to participate in a cover-up,” Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain said the phrase “leave no one behind” is the military ethos, one that’s emphasized in recruitment, training and throughout service. Receiving an order to violate that very mantra shaped the remainder of his life.
Eventually, in 2019, Chamberlain published his memoir, Bury Him: a memoir of the Vietnam War.
He compared his reasoning for putting his experience into writing to his time on the Wyoming Board of Parole. He said every once in a while, an inmate would come in who had escaped and been gone for a couple of years.
“Almost all of them would say they just got so tired of looking over their shoulder,” Chamberlain said. “The one thing writing the book did for me was finally get it out into the open. I wasn’t looking over my shoulder worrying if somebody was gonna find out.”
Chamberlain said while he is a proud member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), he does not participate in activities often.
“I have the utmost regard and respect for both organizations and the people in them, but I do avoid some activities, just because of the memories,” he said.
Since his service, Chamberlain worked on his family ranch in LaGrange, worked as an educator and a radio broadcaster and even served as Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, and the list goes on
Chamberlain said military service is a “tremendously different experience than what people think.”
When he arrived in and left Vietnam, he was alone. He was not with a unit, he said.
“There were never any flags, bands, welcome backs or people seeing you off, other than your immediate family,” Chamberlain said. “I’m so thankful now that the general public has changed, and honors people who serve our country. They deserve every bit of honor we can give them.”
Visit DougChamberlainMarine.com for more information about the audio and print version of Chamberlain’s book.
