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BY ROZELLA HARDIN
Editorial Director
rozella.hardin@elizabethton.com
Heroes are born, and made every day. However, we often stand and sit in their presence without knowing it. One that comes to mind is Michael P. Oliver, for whom a bridge at Hampton was dedicated June 24. Mickey, as he was known to high school friends, attended and graduated from Hampton High School in 1965. He later was killed in Vietnam.
When Mickey graduated in 1965 the Vietnam War was nearing its height. The draft was a threat to every high school graduate. Many volunteered, hoping to avoid Vietnam altogether. Others faced it head-on. Many more didn’t have a choice. Soon after basic training they were sent to the war-torn rice paddies of ’Nam. A number of young men in my high school graduating class served in Vietnam. Most came home. Some still bear the scars.
One young man who didn’t come home was Michael Pearce Oliver, who grew up in the Butler community. As a high school student he did not act or look like a hero. He was sort of thin and gaunt, and soft-spoken. Mickey was a quiet and studious boy, but, probably outside the classroom he could be rowdy and rambunctious as most teenagers were. I recall having several classes with Mickey – an English class or two and a geography and history class.
Mickey was a very kind person and was well-liked by his classmates. He was not your star athlete nor president of his class. However, he always did well in his studies. In geography, he sat in front of me and often before class we compared answers on our homework sheets.
Mickey was killed in action in the Hiep Duc Valley, Quang Tin Province of Vietnam on January 10, 1968, as a result of gunshot wounds received in combat. He had served in the U.S. Army for about a year when he was killed. He served with the 196th Infantry Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division.
As someone who attended school with Mickey, it was hard to think of him as a fighter or carrying a gun. He was such a humble and meek person.
But, all heroes are meek – people with courage who dare to serve, who stand on the front lines and often take the bullets for others. They give their all to the moment in which they live and die.
Mickey was college material and no doubt he would have succeeded at anything he chose to do in life. Whether by choice or not, he became a soldier and fought for his country, putting his career and life on hold.
Today, his name is among those etched on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., and on a black granite marker at the Elizabethton War Memorial Park. June 24, 55 years after his death, a bridge near Hampton High School was dedicated to his memory. He was a Specialist Fourth Class when he died, but was posthumously awarded the rank of Sergeant and a Purple Heart. Other medals awarded Oliver include the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Marksmanship Badge, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Army Presidential Unit Citation, Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and Army Good Conduct Medal.
Mickey Oliver never made it to college. He never had a family of his own nor the opportunity to work and own a home. At the age of 20 he died, struck down in a strange country far from home, fighting for a cause many didn’t believe in and against people he never knew.
Regardless, he did it because his country asked him to. Had it been at some other time and under different circumstances, no man could have shot and killed Mickey Oliver. He was a friendly man, a peace-loving man, but his country made him a fighter.
The U.S. Army shipped him home several days later in a wooden box. Several days later and with honors, Michael P. Oliver was laid to rest in the Butler Memorial Cemetery.
He was not the only vicim of the war…so was his mother, who grieved until the day she died over the loss of her son.
This weekend, I once again picked up my high school yearbook and briefly glanced at the pictures. There were other members of the class who answered the call to serve in Vietnam…some came back home victims with injuries and trauma. Others returned home, married, had families and have done quite well. But, Mickey Oliver came home a hero! He made the ultimate sacrifice.