Do you believe in destiny? or maybe providence, or how about fate, and of course
free will. So let me ask you, did you ever have a little voice in the back of your
head telling you that you had something to do, or something more to do, but that
little voice didn't tell you what it was you had to do. Well this is the true story of
a man that had a voice in his head and what happened because he followed that
voice. Then you can be the judge on if it was destiny or not. I also believe in free
will, that doesn't tell you whether your choice is good or bad, just that you have a
choice, to do it or not to do it. And of course, the outcome is always in doubt.
RAYMOND M. CLAUSEN, JR was his name, but if you met him he'd tell you to
call him Mike, my name is Mike, just call me Mike he would say. Mikes tour in
Vietnam had ended and he was back home, but he put in a request for another tour
in Vietnam. His mother ask him why do you want to go back, why. Mike said I have
something I got to do, I don't know what but theirs something I still have to do.
So I guess the little voice in his head was telling him where, but not what, and so Mike
went back to Vietnam for another tour. On January 31, 1970 Mike and that little voice
met head on. This is where the little voice, fate and destiny and free will converged.
Participating in a helicopter rescue mission to extract elements of a platoon which had
inadvertently entered a minefield while attacking enemy positions. Mike skillfully helped
the pilot to a landing in an area cleared by one of several mine explosions. And now we
have come to the free will of this story, because at this point Mike had to make a decision
and Mike's decision was to jump out of the helicopter and run into the minefield under
heaver fire and help carry out the wounded as other Marines would follow in his foot
steps out of the minefield to the waiting helicopter. He did this six times till all Marines
were safely aboard, then he had the pilot lift off Mike saved eighteen Marines that day.
And for the action Mike took on that day, he would receive the Medal of Honor. And so
the question remains, was it destiny, or fate, or providence? Well you could drive yourself
crazy trying to figure out all the what ifs. What if Mike hadn't gone back to Vietnam what
if. It seems that no one leaves the battlefield unscathed, all leave a piece of themselves
there, and in turn, a piece of there, comes here. Mike Clausen passed away in 2004,
and that one action, on that one day, would define Mike for the rest of his life, as hero.
Most every Marine who ever met Mike, liked Mike, for he was the living example of,
no man left behind.
free will. So let me ask you, did you ever have a little voice in the back of your
head telling you that you had something to do, or something more to do, but that
little voice didn't tell you what it was you had to do. Well this is the true story of
a man that had a voice in his head and what happened because he followed that
voice. Then you can be the judge on if it was destiny or not. I also believe in free
will, that doesn't tell you whether your choice is good or bad, just that you have a
choice, to do it or not to do it. And of course, the outcome is always in doubt.
RAYMOND M. CLAUSEN, JR was his name, but if you met him he'd tell you to
call him Mike, my name is Mike, just call me Mike he would say. Mikes tour in
Vietnam had ended and he was back home, but he put in a request for another tour
in Vietnam. His mother ask him why do you want to go back, why. Mike said I have
something I got to do, I don't know what but theirs something I still have to do.
So I guess the little voice in his head was telling him where, but not what, and so Mike
went back to Vietnam for another tour. On January 31, 1970 Mike and that little voice
met head on. This is where the little voice, fate and destiny and free will converged.
Participating in a helicopter rescue mission to extract elements of a platoon which had
inadvertently entered a minefield while attacking enemy positions. Mike skillfully helped
the pilot to a landing in an area cleared by one of several mine explosions. And now we
have come to the free will of this story, because at this point Mike had to make a decision
and Mike's decision was to jump out of the helicopter and run into the minefield under
heaver fire and help carry out the wounded as other Marines would follow in his foot
steps out of the minefield to the waiting helicopter. He did this six times till all Marines
were safely aboard, then he had the pilot lift off Mike saved eighteen Marines that day.
And for the action Mike took on that day, he would receive the Medal of Honor. And so
the question remains, was it destiny, or fate, or providence? Well you could drive yourself
crazy trying to figure out all the what ifs. What if Mike hadn't gone back to Vietnam what
if. It seems that no one leaves the battlefield unscathed, all leave a piece of themselves
there, and in turn, a piece of there, comes here. Mike Clausen passed away in 2004,
and that one action, on that one day, would define Mike for the rest of his life, as hero.
Most every Marine who ever met Mike, liked Mike, for he was the living example of,
no man left behind.
