Recognizing the bond of America’s veterans, and appreciating the burdens they share

By Sid Pierce

Special to the Times

Editor’s note: Ozark County native Sid Pierce, right, a Navy veteran, worked and traveled with country music star Roy Clark for more than 20 years before returning home to teach in the Gainesville Schools. Now living in Kimberling City, he worked as a sound technician at the Hit Songwriters in the Round show in Branson before the covid pandemic caused many Branson shows to close. In this remembrance, he recalls some of the veterans who have impacted his life, including his dad, the late Herman Pierce, who served several terms as Ozark County Sheriff.

Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guard and Guardsmen. We honor them all for their selfless sacrifice. We express our gratitude for the best America’s got to offer. Thank you for wearing the country’s uniform and protecting our country, our liberty and our very lives.

The burdens of our military personal are real and difficult. Precious time away from family and friends, abandonment of personal pursuits, the rigors of training, the reality of combat, the pain of loss are just some of the more apparent issues facing a military member and their families. Others carry physical scars while some have unseen scars that affect not only them, but their loved ones as well.

The soldiers’ bond

Herman Pierce (my dad) and Don Smith were close friends. As a child, I would listen to them reminisce about their Army years. Their stories were exciting to a young boy. Not only were they Ozark County boys who went to World War II, they served near each other and described major battles and the generals of their campaigns. No matter what happened in life, those men had a bond that I admired.

After retirement, Dad submitted some of his photographs and a couple of stories for a memoir of his unit during the war. Diary entries, com-mentaries along with photographs made up two volumes of the Fighting 33rd Nomads. He also reveled in attending reunions with his old army buddies. 

It was a big deal for him to reconnect with Otto Lafrenz of Toms River, New Jersey. Otto showed Dad around New York City, and they got into an altercation with some young thugs.

Dad returned the favor by showing Otto around Ozark County and also had another encounter with a disorderly indi-vidual hoping to settle a score from when Dad served as sheriff in years prior. I found it funny when they both told me separately that the other needed to be a little more careful, that the other wouldn’t always be around to have their back. 

Steve Mygatt: gone too soon

When I started working with Roy Clark, he already had three employees who were veterans. One, Tim Kingrey, was a Navy vet and, like me, had never served in a combat zone. The other two were Vietnam veterans. All three became my lifelong friends. 

Steve Mygatt was a mess.  Steve was the only guy I knew who came to work in starched Hawaiian shirts, flipflops wearing swim trucks and neon dollar sunglasses. One time our food was comped on a cruise ship to Hawaii, and Stevie ordered everything on the menu delivered to his room. Four of us had a midnight buffet with so much food it was everywhere – including in the hall.

Steve was the most honest person I ever met, and yet his honesty kept him in trouble. He didn’t have a filter, and he was not a respecter of persons. He lived life on his terms. Steve confided in me about his experiences in Vietnam, more times than not in the middle of the night.

At 17, Steve enlisted in the Navy. He became a corpsman and was assigned to a Marine Corps unit. He would share with me how he would administer morphine to his wounded and dying Marines and then would later give himself some to “steady his nerves.” Not only did Steve bring the war home, he brought an addiction home as well.

A number of us encouraged Steve to get help, and eventually he reached out to the VA. At first his friends thought he was on the road to recovery, and we were overjoyed that he was doing so well. Then, one night, our road manager knocked on my hotel room door to tell me Steve was gone. 

My experience with survivor’s guilt became very real, most assuredly not to the extent of what my friend Steve must have felt; nonetheless, I miss my friend and wonder if I did everything I could to have helped him.

James Ingle: learning to be ‘the baddest of the baddest’

James Ingle was playing drums at a club in Rockaway Beach one holiday weekend during the infamous riot in 1965. He was raised by an uncle who told him he better quit playing music in the bars, so he went to the recruiter’s office and joined the Marine Corps.

After basic training, James went to a Jimi Hendrix concert in California, and 24 hours after that he was jumping off a helicopter in Vietnam to join his unit. James always referred to himself as a grunt. He received the Purple Heart while serving in Vietnam.

There was nothing James wanted more than to return home to his new bride; he got up before sunrise every morning and followed the lead of the South Korean Marines who were practicing Tae Kwon Do. “They were the baddest of the baddest, so I learned everything I could from them” he said.

Shortly after returning home, James had a small family. However, he was always intense and on edge. James also was addicted, but his addiction was adrenaline. It seems a lot of combat veterans get addicted to the rush of combat, and life becomes somewhat boring without some major risks.

James eventually found peace with the help of his family and the Tae Kwon Do community he helped introduce to the United States. Today James is a fifth degree black belt and is a very respected member of the music world and his community. I have no better friend this side of heaven than James Ingle.

Friends in high places: Yeager and Schwarzkopf 

Roy Clark had some interesting friends. General Chuck Yeager, the legendary flying ace and test pilot, came to several of our shows and always enjoyed hanging out on our bus and telling stories. While in his 80s, General Yeager still had better than perfect eyesight and flew for the Air Force. He is currently 97 years old.

Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and Roy quail hunted together, and he often joined us backstage to share his war stories. Since I spent a ton of time on the bus traveling, I had read both generals’ autobiographies. The generals were thrilled to be asked about details of their military careers. Neither ever dodged a question, and General Schwarzkopf talked openly about heated disagreements with President George H.W. Bush during the Persian Gulf War.

Then he’d calm down and say, “I gave him hell. I told him, ‘Let me go into Baghdad and let me finish this.’ Then I saluted and followed my orders. Looking back, the president had a better understanding of the long term consequences,” he admitted.

The oath continues

Veterans Day is set aside to honor those among us who raised their right hand and took the solemn oath “To defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Many veterans take this oath as seriously today as they did the day they enlisted, regardless of the decades that might have past. For most, their oath only expires when they do. Everyone knows veterans who have continued to serve each other and their communities well beyond their separation from their military service.

Veterans Day is a great opportunity to take a moment and remember those who have answered their country’s call. If possible, let those you hold dear know how much they mean to you. Individually and collectively, we owe a debt that can never be repaid. God bless and keep our troops safe!