Issaquah resident Bob Carroll has a hard time remembering things short-term, but he remembers dates and events during his time in the service without hesitation.

The son of a WWII veteran, Carroll joined the army June 14, 1966. His father, Lewis Carroll — not to be confused with the famous author — fought in Cebu, in the Philippines in WWII. A corporal, the elder Carroll was tasked with going door to door in Japan, after the war, informing residents that the war was over since they had no communication to the outside world.

Carroll wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I volunteered for Vietnam,” Carroll said.

His then girlfriend, who would become his first wife, didn’t want him to go, so through connections she had, his 1049 form was pulled, but he re-enlisted. She was in the Women’s Army Corp. They both were stationed in Germany in 1967. In April 1970, he was deployed to Vietnam.

He’d only been there two weeks when the US invaded Cambodia. He worked as a machine gunner escorting convoys in and out of Vietnam for two months and amazingly they were never shot at.

However, they did encounter a land mine that did some serious damage to their rigs.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1970, he was at Phuoc Vinh, forward base.

“We had a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner,” Carroll said. “I was looking forward to a good sleep after the big meal.”

Not a leader, or wanting to be one, he saw the platoon leaders coming toward him. If he zigged right, they did the same. He couldn’t avoid them. One of the squad leaders hadn’t come back from Saigon they said, so being short a squad leader they wanted him to take the job. He told them he hadn’t even had advanced infantry training yet, but after running out of excuses, he accepted his new position.

With Thanksgiving dinner still heavy in his belly, his squad had to go out — right then. They were out in the jungle until Jan. 4, 1971.

After finding a big clearing where a chopper could land, the men were able to get supplies dropped for them. But now the VC knew where they were, he said, so they had to move.

“I saw this box, about 40-inches by 8-inches by 8-inches with my name on it, but we had to move so I couldn’t open it,” he said.

So he packed it around. At times he really wanted to cut it loose because it was constantly getting tangled up in the thick jungle vines.

When he finally opened the box, which had been sent by his aunt and grandmother in Virginia, he was surprised to see a Christmas tree inside. It was artificial, but nobody cared. On Christmas Day, they found a clearing where some timber had been cut. There were large stumps everywhere, so the men put the tree up on a stump, decorated it, and put all the care packages they had received around the tree, and opened them just like they were Christmas presents.

“We had the most wonderful Christmas ever,” Carroll said.

No longer uncomfortable with his leadership position, the squad got a new battalion commander who informed them they were going to be trained in long-range reconnaissance patrol. The men learned to repel from helicopters and use camouflage to completely blend in with the jungle.

Carroll was “turned loose” from Vietnam in February 1971. “It is one on my goals to go back to Vietnam and see some of the places I was in, in peace time,” he said.

Carroll is active in Toastmasters now and tells his many stories. He has three grown sons – Kenneth, 36, Michael, 38, and Ronald, 44. Ronald served in Desert Storm, operating heavy machinery, and lives in Anchorage, Alaska, while the younger sons are in Washington. Carroll also has seven grandchildren.