Bristow man to be inducted into state Military Hall of Fame

Army Spc. 4 Willard F. Parish, a Bristow native, waited with his machine gun for the inevitable attack from a superior force of Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese regulars in 1965.

At 7:45 a.m. the waiting ended as the large enemy force smashed into Charlie Company’s defensive sector where Parish and fellow soldiers waited with the rest of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry to meet their attack.

It was Nov. 15, 1965, day two of the first battle between American and North Vietnamese soldiers in the Ia Drang Valley, a day memorialized in the book, “We Were Soldiers Once and Young,” and later the movie, “We Were Soldiers.”

Parish, who will be inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame on Oct. 21 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Norman, said the enemy looked like they were growing out of the elephant grass.

Parish would be awarded The Silver Star for gallantry during that battle.

His citation said that as the enemy attacked, Parish “delivered lethal fire into the advancing waves of Viet Cong.

“Through his courage, determination and devotion to duty, he saved the lives of many comrades who were in the vicinity of his position and contributed immeasurably to the defeat of the attacking Viet Cong.”

In the book, Parish said, “I remember a lot of noise, a lot of yelling, air strikes … then quiet. It got very quiet like somebody had turned the volume down.”

Years later, he would relive that quiet of the battlefield when he took his father, a World War II veteran, to see the movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” which opens with the American invasion at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

“Remember that scene on the beach with Tom Hanks when everything got quiet and seemingly was in slow motion? I got cold chills,” Parish said.

After his tour of duty in the Army, Parish returned to Bristow. He was a country and western band leader and disc jockey for several years.

He retired from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority after 16 years as a toll gate attendant and then retired as an employee of the city of Bristow.

His awards and decorations include the Combat Infantry Badge; Presidential Unit Citation; National Defense Service Medal; Republican of Vietnam ribbon.