A Ruskin Vietnam Veteran Gets A Surprise Visit From The Marine Who Saved His Life

RUSKIN, FL — He lay in a Vietnam field immobile after shrapnel hit him as he watched the bodies of his comrades explode from bombs placed by the Viet Cong, the armed communist revolutionary organization fighting the South Vietnamese government and its American supporters.

Robert Field — a young U.S. Marine then serving as a private first class on Aug. 18, 1965, in the Vietnam War — feared he would be captured by Viet Cong troops. The bodies of slain members of his fire team had fallen nearby.

As Field continued to hear explosions, U.S. Marine Corporal Robert O'Malley killed numerous Viet Cong fighters crowding a helicopter landing zone; the enemy continued to kill American troops and take out U.S. battle tanks. Field saw O'Malley pick up wounded men and put them on a U.S. helicopter for evacuation.

“I looked around after it was over, and you see your fire team laying there, and you can’t do anything," Field told Patch. "I can’t even move. So I was just glad I wasn’t captured or anything because that would have been the worst.”

Field had been shot in his ankles and legs.

Shrapnel pierced O'Malley in his arms, leg, lungs and chest as he brought Field and 10 other wounded men to a helicopter for evacuation to a hospital.

"I got very lucky," O'Malley said to Patch. "We got a little action once or twice, but very little of someone shooting at us. But finally I got attached to three tanks ... hardcore VC (Viet Cong fighters) were coming down on them."

As O'Malley dragged the wounded men to the aircraft, the three U.S. tanks he had been assigned to were blown up. After O'Malley placed Field in the helicopter, he was ordered to get on, too. They were flown to different medical facilities and ships for medical care.

O'Malley received a Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart 90 days after the firefight.

"When he took me to the helicopter that was the last time I ever saw him," Field said. They didn't think they'd ever meet again. As the years past, they never forgot each other. Fifty-six years later, they were reunited Saturday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars 6287 on U.S. 41 in the Ruskin area.

O'Malley resides in Gulf Way, Texas, and Field lives in Ruskin. O'Malley had been invited to serve as the grand marshal in the most recent Ruskin Veterans' Day Parade.

Field said he had been looking forward to finally reuniting with his hero. However, O'Malley ended up not making the trip to Florida because he was being treated for health issues at a Veterans Affairs hospital.

“I was very depressed. I went into a little bit of a depression because of the fact that I couldn’t meet this man," Field said.

Veterans of Foreign Wars officials knew Field was disappointed at the missed chance to meet the man who saved his life. They decided to arrange a surprise meeting at the VFW Post 6287 in Ruskin in December.

About 60 locals, mostly veterans, and Field's daughter, along with O'Malley — who wore a black U.S. Marine Corps hat with a red polo shirt under a black vest and his Medal of Honor — gathered to surprise Field.

Field, who recently had his left leg amputated because of complications from the injuries he suffered in Vietnam, arrived in a wheelchair and exchanged an "Oorah" with O'Malley after he stood to hug him. They sat at a table and had a couple beers as they caught up with each other and looked back on that unforgettable day.