Marine Radioman Shares Story of Surviving Firefights, Racism in Vietnam

After endearing one of the Vietnam War’s most dangerous jobs – radio operator – Marine Corps veteran Cleveland King Jr. had to wait decades to receive proper recognition. 

When Black History Month was celebrated, King’s story of bravery and honor, despite facing humiliating discrimination, was recently featured on a local news story in Huntsville, Alabama. 

In a firefight, the enemy would often target a radio operator first to cut off communication to commanding officers. 

“We were only supposed to live 10 seconds … in a firefight,” King said. 

King grew up in Georgia and Ohio. To provide for his young family, King enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1968. Boot camp was set for Parris Island, South Carolina. Laughing and joking with buddies on the train ride down to basic training, King’s demeanor quickly changed once he met his drill sergeants. 

“We got to Parris Island, I thought I’d died and gone to hell,” King said. 

Surviving ornery sergeants and intense training was one thing, but it paled in comparison to what the young soldier would face in Vietnam. King was sent there as a mortarman and radio operator, tasked with relaying vital information to commanders and calling for air support. 

It made him a marked man. 

How He Earned His Medals 

Serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, King was wounded several times, including in a hellacious fight to defend Hill 484 in 1969. With tears rolling down his face, King still vividly recalls the battle decades later. 

“It looked like we would never get outta there,” King said. “Most of all of our guys got shot. … Our lieutenant, he got shot. The soldiers are just screamin,’ ‘What the hell are we gonna do up here!?’” 

King did all he could to help, calling in Medavac helicopters, directing choppers through heavy gunfire, and pulling wounded soldiers on board so they could get flown to safety and receive medical aid. King refused to leave the area until he made sure all the wounded had been airlifted out. 

“I kept calling out SOS, SOS, SOS, and they radioed back and said, ‘No, we can’t come down, soldier, your LZ (landing zone) is too hot,’” King said. “That means they could get shot down, too.” 

King wouldn’t take no for an answer. He persisted and kept calling. 

“Finally, I said, ‘Excuse me for my language,’ and I cussed that guy out,” King said. “I just started cussin’ and runnin’ and cryin’ myself because I thought it was going to be over, but thank God, there were two Army choppers up there.” 

He eventually made it out alive, but many in his unit did not. He said he was one of the last soldiers to get on the rescue chopper, still amazed all these years later that he didn’t die that day in Vietnam. 

Discrimination 

By the 1960s, the civil rights movement was in full force, with Black Americans trying to secure the equal rights they deserved. Even as a combat soldier, King was fighting his own battles against discrimination in the jungles of Vietnam. 

“In the bush, we were all the same color, we ate out of the same can, and we slept together, hugging one another when it was cold,” King said. 

Eating together at base camp was a different story, however, as racism again reared its ugly head. 

“The lieutenant, he came to me and said, ‘Listen, we only want three of your kind sitting at the table at once,’” King said. “I told him, ‘Listen, it’s unfair. The other people can sit and eat and laugh all they want to, but when we come as a group, you want us to separate, why?’” 

Finally Receives Honors 

When King came home from the war – a mostly unpopular war – he faced backlash from an American public that didn’t see the point of sending young soldiers to die halfway around the world. 

“They called us baby killers … yeah,” King said. 

Internally, King struggled with survivor’s guilt for years following Vietnam. Why did he get to live when so many others did not? 

“What did they do to die? It could have been me, and it was them,” King said, “but I guess it wasn’t my time.” 

It wasn’t until March 2012, after King moved to Huntsville, that he was properly honored for his acts of valor, including receiving the Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” device, two Purple Hearts and a Combat Action Ribbon during a ceremony at the Huntsville Marine Reserve Center. 

King had been awarded those medals in 1969 but never knew about it, believing lost paperwork might have led to not receiving them. 

Fellow Marines King served with traveled across the country to see him receive his medals, some admitting to racist beliefs before their lives were saved by a Black soldier.