Robert Logan Wickliffe

Born in Natchez, Mississippi on October 29, 1945, Robert Logan Wickliffe is the person who I have chose to do some research on. In June 1966 Bob, as he was know to many people back home was successful in much of what he did. After graduating from high school, he attended Louisiana State University. While at Louisiana State he developed multiple friendships that he would keep until his death. During this time at Louisiana State University, Bob also enlisted into the Marines. By the early spring of 1967 Corps School was over and it everybody went on leave. Each of the students enlisted in the Marines who had finished Corps School that spring was resigned to different places. While some were sent to Antarctica, others were sent to San Diego. As for Bob, he was assigned to Fleet Marine Force, Camp Pendleton. What Robert did not know was that in just a few months he would be in Vietnam.

While back home and at school there were many discussions about if the United States should even have any involvement in the war, Robert, who was a self enlisted Marine, was to be stationed at the United States Air Force base in Camp Evans. His Vietnam tour would officially begin on September 15, 1967. During this tour he served as a Hospital Corpsman for the Navy in the 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines in the H&S Company. It is here that he would run into Glenn E. Prentice, of whom would be a friend of his until he death. Glenn was a radio operator who also had chosen to join the Marines.

Both Robert and Glenn would remain in somewhat of a safer area at Camp Evans, and eventually Huey City, until the middle of December in 1967. Robert or Doc as most people in Vietnam called him, would often load up the casualties onto helicopters. During the siege at Khe Sahn Doc Wickliffe and Glenn Prentice, as well as the rest of India and H&S Company were repositioned on top of hill 881. Though they had already been in the area, Khe Sahn was a much more intense combat zone. Upon arriving in Early January, the battle at Khe Sahn was already growing somewhat large. Robert Wickliffe would serve as the “Doc” of hill 881 for another 3 weeks. On January 20, the North Vietnamese Army executed a strong attack. During this time, Bob would become very busy with helping all of the wounded. The second biggest task he had was to load Marines onto the helicopters. The problem was that during the time it took for a helicopter to come down the Vietnamese would be able to fire heavy Russian artillery at the helicopters. Though Glenn was a radio operator, he would often work with Bob whenever he was not calling for artillery. He and the Doc worked together to help load and sometimes to the point of “throwing” a Marine onto the helicopters as quickly and safely as they could to prevent the helicopters from being blown up.

The next day the fire still continued. As the casualties continued to grow the job became more difficult. Doc being a somewhat heavy guy continually worked to get everybody the help the needed. Though the gun fire would come just inches away from his face at times, it would not stop him from doing his job. Later that day, while Doc was loading up a Marine into a CH-46, 2 blade helicopter, catena came flying and blew both Doc Wickliffe and Glenn Prentice back. This blast would be the one thing that would stop the Doc. As the two marines lay in the trench hole that they were blown back into, Glenn called out for Doc to get off of him as he was crushing him. When he did not respond, he grabbed his head, he reached into his skull and at that moment realized that the Doc had been directly hit by the mortar shrapnel, and possibly saved other from being injured as he had taken the front end of the blast.

On January 22, 1968. the Doc was killed instantly and at age 22 as a 4 year veteran, had forever left his impression on hundreds of people who he had helped as a doctor and friend. Currenly his and many others names are inscribed on microchips used on the Stardust Spacecraft

"I looked for you to find myself and neither of us was there. The leaves rustled and the sound was far away. But suddenly the light of you
shone through the haze of me...
And before the light went out
my own light started to burn. Thank you for the match."
-George A Thurston,
Da Nang, Viet Nam

1/9/1968

"To remember Doc Wickliffe's bravery with a recollection permanently etched in my memory, on 22 January he was first at the scene on the LZ, after a mortar round landed in the middle of a working party of Marines, who were retrieving supplies from a helicopter drop. Bob's bunker was immediately east of the LZ and he responded quickly to the attack, just as a second mortar round hit the LZ, and which mortally wounded Bob. I was in a bunker just south and below the LZ, and was a few seconds behind Bob to arrive at the scene.”
-Roderick J. Pierce,
HM3

This project was done with the help of Glenn Prenitce.