Veteran Spotlight: Army Corporal John Demello Jr.

An absolute pleasure to interview one of my favorite people of all time for this week’s Veterans Spotlight. This gentleman is not only a life-long friend, but served as a solid mentor early in my life. John “Jack” Demello Jr. served his country in the United States Army as a Corporal from 1967 – 1969. He served in the Vietnam War in 1968 – 1969. Mr. Demello graduated from Lawrence High School, where he was a star athlete and later from Bridgewater State College. He earned his Master’s Degree at UMass.

Mr. Demello did his basic training at Fort Dix, NJ and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Jackson, SC. “The worst speech I’ve ever heard was from my 1st Sargent. He said ‘some of you guys are going to get wounded and some of you are going to get killed.’ I thought, this is getting better all the time!” he said with a laugh. Corporal Demello was sent to Vietnam and landed during the day. “We were all nervous…..a guy that became my best friend was from Taunton…..last name was Dull…..we were in the same room in advanced Infantry Training, we were in the same Battallion, Division, Company and Platoon….he was killed during a patrol.” When asked his reaction to his friends’ death, Corporal Demello responded emotionally, “I was broken. I wasn’t with him. We always spoke of getting in touch with each other’s family if something happened to one of us……I wasn’t able to after my discharge. Things happen and life goes on. But fifty years later, I received info and found his three sisters……went to his grave too…..whole thing helped to bring a bit of closure” he said. In Vietnam, Coproral Demello spent time at a base camp in Cu Chi. “Most of our time, we were in the field…..never stayed in one place too long…..we covered quite a bit of territory” he remembered.

He shared a story that was somewhat eerie. “I was on patrol on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the middle of the night. It was so dark, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. All of a sudden, I was walking and came upon two headlights that shown right at me. I stopped, took cover and radio’d headquarters. They said to stand by. Several minutes later I received a message to disregard. I still don’t know what the heck that was all about” he remembered. Through all of the torment, anguish, killing and misery, Corporal Demello shared a humorous story. “We had set up outside a village. You’re not suppose to fraternize with the villagers in this situation. A couple of days prior I had shaved my head and was sitting there with my troops. I noticed that this young girl kept staring at me. Then she got up and started walking toward me which was a big no-no. She stopped, then kept walking again. Everyone is now looking at the girl. She comes right up to me, put her hand on my head and says, ‘BUDDHA!’ he said, chuckling at the memory.

When asked about the holidays, Corporal Demello said, “you felt alone but you shared it with close friends. I wrote my parents every third day. Never talked about anything real that was happening. I didn’t talk about anything; ‘we’ve been getting lots of rain…..the Water Buffalo are great’….just ragtime stuff. My father wrote me a note and demanded to know what was really going and, so I wrote him and told him and he never wrote back. I think he didn’t want to know the danger I was in.” May of 1968, had the most casualties (2,169) for the entire month, making it the deadliest month of the entire Vietnam War for U.S Forces. “We lost about half of our Battalion, which was extremely sad” he remembered. I asked Corporal Demello his first experience in battle. “There’s fear initially, but then the adrenaline takes over” (Corporal Demello was a squad leader for a period of time in 1969). When I asked him if he was ever afraid, I received a one word answer, “Sure.”

Like many that served, he is a champion of Vietnam Veterans with PTSD. “We were being mortared in a bunker. All of a sudden, one of our guys snaps and starts to run out to attack the enemy. We had to tackle him and hold him down. He was wounded (7) different times. Mentally, he was just a wreck” he said. When I came back, I didn’t talk about my service in Vietnam at all, didn’t make any contact with anyone. Then a guy called me from my Battalion, then another guy. This was the soldier that had carried me to my helicopter when I was wounded. I lost track of him. He had been in a VA Psychiatric Hospital since the war. Thankfully he’s been discharged. I talk with him periodically” he said choking back the emotion. Though Corporal Demello bears no ill will against the protestors of the war, he is still really bothered by one thing. “When they called us baby killers. That hurt a lot” he said softly. Thoughts on his service? “I was proud of what we all did. I suppressed it for so long…..proudest thing I ever did.” Though his intense humility would not allow him to elaborate entirely on his many awards, he is proud of three; The Purple Heart, Combat Infantry Badge and Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars.

Corporal John Demello Jr., thank you for your service to our great country and welcome home.