the Vietnam War.
Ballard remembers those days like they were yesterday.
During his time at the Marine Corps boot camp, Ballard was
given his nickname “Doc.”
“They knew we were going to Vietnam and knew we need-
ed to learn how to live,” Ballard said. “By God, I’m glad I paid
attention. After that, they started calling me Doc, which they
called hospital corpsmen. I went through two years with the
Marines and most of them didn’t know my name.”
For 10 months and 14 days, Ballard was in Vietnam. He
was injured several times in the war and after the eighth one
he was Medevac’d to Japan.
Ballard finally returned home in 1969 and in those tough
times, he learned a true appreciation of the cost of freedom.
Ballard would talk to kids and students in Gainesville
about that price and he said he will miss being able to articu-
late that this year.
“I’ve been talking to them for 20 years and the main thing
I would talk about is patriotism,” Ballard said. “The country
is founded on our freedom to get away from Britain. I expand
on what freedom really is because these kids have never really
been without. If we hadn’t done anything, we wouldn’t have
what we have today. I would also talk about what we can do
to improve our own country.”
During his time in the military, Ballard visited 60 coun-
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tries and he always made a point to soak in their situations.
“I learned that we should be grateful for what we have
because not only do we have freedom, but we have a better
quality of life,” Ballard said. “I would get off the Navy ship
and take tours because I didn’t figure I would ever get back
over there. I realized what they didn’t have much. I was al-
ways explaining to the kids that I was grateful.”
Last year, Ballard traveled around the country for nearly
110 days and he said it is difficult not coming to Gainesville
this year to share his experiences.