Unsung Heroes of Morgan County AL: Army Private First Class Thomas Gurley

Army Private First Class Thomas Gurley
born June 21, 1944
died July 20, 1967 Binh Long Province, South Vietnam
buried Shiloh Cemetery, Somerville AL
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From Somerville AL

Unit C CO, 2ND BN, 12TH INFANTRY, 4TH INF DIV, USARV

Start Tour: 06/06/1967
Incident Date: 07/20/1967
Casualty Date: 07/20/1967

MOS 11B10: Infantryman

I am an American Soldier.

I am a Warrior and a member of a team.

I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough,

trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.

I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.

I am an expert and I am a professional.

I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy

the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.

I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.

I am an American Soldier.

Army Private First Class

4th Infantry Division 2

Combat Infantry

12th Infantry

A BRIEF MOMENT IN TIME
I met Tom Gurley the day he died. I was a replacement new in country and just assigned to Charlie Company. The mission was supposed to be a snap. Just a one day sweep outside our basecamp located on the Michelin Rubber Plantation.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we were almost back to camp. The word came back to take a five-minute break. I sat down and leaned against a rubber tree completely worn out. As I lit a cigarette Tom and a kid named Brannon, from Chicago I believe walked up and asked if they could borrow a smoke. As I handed them my pack Tom asked me how "short" I was. I mumbled something about having more than 300 days left. Both of them were "short-timers" and tried to cheer me up with some encouraging words.

We got the word to get up and head out for base camp. Within seconds a huge directional mine went off. I was blown up and back into the branches of a rubber tree. The blast had killed two, Tom and Brannon and severely wounded six others. Other than a mild headache I didn't have a scratch.

A sergeant did all he could to keep Tom alive, but he just couldn't make it. I helped carry his body to a cleared area and a dust-off Huey took the wounded and dead out of the area.

Although I've felt guilty for 30 years I came out of that moment unharmed it also made me realize when it's your time that's just the way the cards are dealt. It gave me a great inner strength and I know helped me to survive the next twelve months in the hell known as Vietnam.

If any relative or friend of Tom Gurley reads this I can only tell you he died quickly and never knew what hit him. And he didn't die alone. His buddies did all they could to help and like me, won't ever forget him even if all I shared with him was a cigarette and a few last moments of his life. God bless him and all the others.
Jack Mitchell