BYRON, Ga. — 13WMAZ is highlighting a Byron man's military career serving in Vietnam.
For Roy Larkin, enlisting in the military in 1953 at 18-years-old was his chance at a better life.
"Living in a shack with wooden windows, wooden doors and you could see the chickens when you eat, underneath the house. That's why I went into the military, and I don't forget it," Larkin said.
For over 20 years he served in the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne, and traveled overseas to Japan, Belgium and most notably, Vietnam.
That's where he remembers the mortar blasts near the Cambodian border in 1970.
"You have a whistling sound. That means mortar rounds. When you hear them coming in, you hear whistling and you better move. That means you got 3-4 seconds to get down in a hole. Well, I didn't make the hole," he said.
Larkin was hit with shrapnel, temporarily losing his vision and hearing.
"I could not see, I was blind and and I couldn't hear, because my right eardrum was busted, and I had fragments all over me," he said.
He recalls medics treating him while he waited to be carried out on a helicopter. He says the Vietnamese attacked again before he was able to leave, and officers asked if he could fight again.
"I said, 'Hell yeah give me my M16.' Well, I got up and I got clicked two times. I got shot two times in the back," Larkin said.
Larkin earned 3 Purple Heart honors for his heroic duty in the Army and risking his life to fight for America.
"I love my country, it was hard, it was low pay we didn't get paid good, but it was better than picking cotton," Larkin said.
Larkin retired after 20 years of service. He now lives in Byron with his wife.