The Day God Showed Up
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What was happening? No Vietnamese artillery could possibly harm us, not where we were located. Just then, we heard the second round coming and suddenly I'm thanking God for this hole I'm in. The round landed directly in our command post. I scrambled out of the safety of my freshly dug hole headed for the command post. "Oh, my God, they're gone." Of the five killed in action lying there in the blood, with the smell of smoke and the shrapnel, I did not recognize any of them. "My God, I cried" Christmas night, these men are dead. Christmas night; the event that night haunted me for several weeks. Five more Americans dead, this time from our own artillery base, our own artellery round. How could this happen? Christmas night passed into day, and only then could we carry our friends, the same friends we had just eaten Christmas dinner with, to a helicopter to begin their long ride home. How could it be worse knowing your son, husband, brother was killed on Christmas night? This was just another day of death and destruction, with death gtting the upper hand.
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About the Book
In 1968, Sgt. Gordon Helsel was bleeding to death in Vietnam when God saved his life in a most surprising way. The U.S. Army awarded Helsel two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star Medal for his bravery and wounds sustained. Now Gordon Helsel has written his witness to American history “exactly as it happened.” His book, The Day God Showed Up, is a humble and uplifting tribute to God, Helsel's fallen and wounded friends and all Americans who put their lives on the line by serving our country – it’s Helsel's love story for his wife, God and country.
About the Author
Gordon Helsel lives in the small city of Poquoson, Virginia, his hometown for all but the first 10 years of his life and where he's served as fire chief, councilman, then mayor for 15 years, until he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. Since 1966, Gordon has been happily married to his high-school sweetheart, Joy. He’s also a former business owner whose legacy now thrives under his sons, Scott and Brian. Gordon and Joy are proud of Scott and Brian, their daughter by marriage, Brian's wife Christy, and their beautiful grandchildren, Wyatt Keith and Avery Elizabeth.