This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we return to our American stories.

Up next, a story of a soldier who brave the jungles of

Vietnam, from the wild pigs to the stench, to what some might call a holy experience.

Here to tell the story is Michael Williams, a listener of the show and the author of The Boys of

Milo, which tells the stories of the men from his small town in Iowa,

who were drafted or chose to fight in the Vietnam War. Let's get into this story. Take it away,

Michael.

I have seen something under the sun. The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong,

nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned,

but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come.

As fish are caught in a cruel net or birds are taken in a snare, so men are

trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

I want to talk about Ted Godlove.

Ted grew up in Milo, along with his older brother Edsel and younger brother Lee.

His family lived on the far west end of Main Street.

In all the years I knew Ted, I never once heard anyone call him by his first given name, Alan. He had always been Ted Godlove to me.

On August 26, 1968, just a few short months after he graduated from high school, five

rough and ready guys from the area volunteered for induction

in the United States Marine Car all on the same day. All departed the tranquil surroundings of

small town Iowa and embarked on a journey that took them first to Camp Pendleton for basic

training. With basic training completed, additional orders followed and directed them to their next assignment.

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