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This is a website about Marine Recon. It is also a website about all service people and the qualities that are experienced and learned while in military service.
There is perhaps no quality more highly honored than selflessness. Almost all military decorations are awards for selflessness. We combat veterans have witnessed acts of selflessness on a constant basis. Almost all people, military or not, have heard the stories. Jumping on a live enemy hand grenade to save the lives of those around him. Laying suppressing fire while exposing himself to heavy enemy fire so that his teammates could escape. Running out under withering enemy fire to aid a severely wounded teammate. Today we are going to hear about selflessness from Floyd Nagler, who served with 3rd Recon Battalion in the Vietnam war. This interview was conducted by me in May of 2022. The full interview will be coming out shortly. Almost all Vietnam vets stood in the shadow of WWII. Floyd is no exception. So many Nam vets had fathers or uncles who fought or died fighting in the Pacific or on the European fronts. Those soldiers and Marines cast a long shadow, but it was not only those combat veterans who were caught up in the vast sweep of history occurring between 1935 and 1945. Floyd’s mother was a survivor of the Holocaust. Her life was saved by allied troops liberating the camp she was in, as the war was winding down. Like many Holocaust survivors she was transported to the United States, taken into a camp where she and others were nursed back to health, and taught both English and job skills. Floyd’s father was a conscientious objector who had volunteered for many causes during the war and was a volunteer in the same camp as Floyd’s mother. Here is a short clip of Floyd talking about his experience of selflessness in combat, and of how that experience both guided and strengthened his life after combat. “The basic building block of selfless service is the commitment of each team member to go a little further, endure a little longer, and look a little closer to see how he or she can add to the effort.” Duane France BLOG_1.mp4 from Lou Kern on Vimeo.
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