By Stephen Smoot
Last week, the newspaper honored two military veterans as Citizens of the Month
This week, the publication proudly honors the third man named for this honor for 2024, Porter J. Southern.
He was born in Clarksburg in 1947 to Walter “Jack” Southern of Saltwell and Constance “Ruth” Sires of Monangah. A Lumberport High School graduate, Southern enlisted in the Army after graduation, training first at Fort Knox in Kentucky, then Fort Ord in California.
Southern once told the Exponent Telegram “I decided to enlist instead of waiting to be drafted.”
Southern was deployed to Vietnam, where he was assigned to heavy equipment transportation at Long Binh, just outside the city formerly known as Saigon. In August of 1968, however, Viet Cong from the 88th Main Force VC/North Vietnamese Army Regiment, dressed as allied Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops set an ambush.
The place was chosen well, a stretch of badly maintained road a little more than a mile long outside of the range of artillery support. The convoy of men in 81 vehicles from the 48th Transportation Group fell under attack.
Mortar and sniper fire rained down on their positions and some enemy soldiers closed to within 15 feet of the Americans’ position. They focused their attention initially on heavy weapons and communications to render their position even more dire. Even worse, low hanging clouds and intermittent heavy rains made helicopter flight dangerous.
Not unlike the British Army’s famous stand at Roarke’s Drift about a century earlier, the soldiers dug in, defended their positions ferociously, and withstood the onslaught. For nine hours, the troops held off wave after wave of attacks until an armored cavalry troop arrived to reinforce, driving the enemy off the field of battle.
This was the first time that the 48th Group had experienced an ambush. The story of Southern and his unit reinforce what Shinnston Lions Club president and US Navy veteran David Minor says about what the Shinnston Veterans’ Day parade means. Every soldier performing every role honorably and to the best of their ability deserves recognition.
Some may never see combat, but the work they do is vital to those who do.
Others have a primary role that may not be for combat, but combat may find them anyway, as in the case of Southern, Iraq war veteran and POW Jessica Lynch, and countless others.
Southern suffered a bullet wound to the chest and underwent three months of rehabilitation before rejoining his outfit. He received a Purple Heart for his part in the action.
After the war, he briefly worked as a deliveryman for a flower shop. He then spent nearly four decades delivering much more precious cargo – working as a school bus driver for Harrison County Schools.