‘To the end of our days’: Hayden's Distinguished Veteran remembers Vietnam

HAYDEN — No matter how much time passes, some experiences are unforgettable.

That’s what Robert O. Martin told community members Monday morning at McIntire Family Park, when he addressed them as the 2024 Distinguished Veteran of the Year.

“My brothers and I are getting on in years and our time is passing quickly,” he said, looking out at the crowd gathered in the misting rain. “But the memory of the war, what we did and our brothers who died, will stay with us to the end of our days.”

Martin served four tours in Vietnam. He has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star Medal that may be upgraded to a Medal of Honor. He didn’t dwell on those decorations Monday.

Instead, he spoke of his squad leader, Sgt. Theodore Chambley. They had a contentious relationship at first.

“He would have me out behind the barracks at night, digging holes,” Martin recalled. “He always told me to dig a six by six by never. Of course, I had to fill it back up.”

Then the war came.

In October 1965, Martin and Chambley were part of an operation called “Shiny Bayonet.”

Time hasn’t dulled the memories of that first experience in combat, which Martin likened to “hell on earth.”

He described the first time he saw someone killed — the door gunner, shot as their helicopter descended amid heavy fire from automatic weapons — as well as the first time he took the life of another person, in the heat of battle in the rainy jungle.

Though Chambley was grievously wounded in the battle, he continued to fire off directions, telling the soldiers who relied on him what to do.

Later on, before Chambley was evacuated with the other wounded soldiers, Chambley grabbed Martin’s arm.

“I told you you’d be a soldier someday,” he said. “I’d make you a soldier.”

“Yeah, even if it killed me,” Martin replied. “It almost did.”

Chambley smiled.

Martin promised to visit Chambley in the hospital. But it wasn’t meant to be. Chambley, a 38-year-old father of nine, died of his wounds before Martin made it back to base camp.

“I had so much I wanted to talk to him about,” Martin told the crowd. “I wanted to tell him how much of an impact on my life he’d made, all of these things I wanted to tell him before they took him back to the United States. And I never got that chance. It was probably the first time and the only time I ever cried in the Vietnam War.”

Martin went on to have careers as a soldier, an officer with the Illinois State Police and a private investigator.

“That’s all because of the inspiration that I had from Sgt. Chambley,” he said.

Others tend to forget what happened in wartime, Martin said, if they ever knew in the first place. That’s why it’s important to keep the memories of service and sacrifice alive.

“I’m glad we have days like Veterans Day to remember all those men and women who went forward and served our country,” he said.