Vietnam MIA Story - No One Left Behind

Vietnam civilians were friendly towards Americans and it took months to get Gary to safety.

Video POW/MIA ceremony, Mark Prior interviewed, Sept. 19, 2025

Mark Prior is a lifelong member of Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary Cactus Unit 2 (The DAVA consists of family members of veterans that support  the VA and DAV organizations.).

On September 19th, 2025, POW/MIA Recognition Day, Mark presented a special proclamation, issued for the City of Tucson on behalf of the Office of the Mayor, and shared his story about his friend Gary.

The Army needed someone who could operate a bulldozer, and Gary could, so the Army assigned him to a unit made up of Cambodians and Australians that desperately needed help to fortify a key position towards the top of a hill.

From up high on the bulldozer, Gary could see the Viet Cong coming up the hill in waves. As one wave was mostly killed or wounded, another came up behind them. Since the VC were short on weapons, the next wave used the previous wave's weapons to continue the attack. There were just too many waves for Gary’s unit to fend off, and the unit had no reinforcements.

During the battle at the top, Gary took 3 bullets in the leg, between the knee and the ankle. He tumbled off the dozer and rolled down the hill and came to rest under a bush. By keeping him hidden, that bush saved his life. Later, Gary learned he was the sole survivor of the attack.

The native Vietnamese who weren’t involved in the war came after the battle and collected the spoils from the dead bodies (shoes, clothing, knives, etc.). They also found Gary under the bush, bleeding profusely. They were sympathetic towards Americans, so they made up a paste with red mud and applied it to the wounds. When it dried, it cauterized the wounds and stopped the bleeding.

The Vietnamese also took it on as a challenge to get Gary to safety, so they put him on a makeshift stretcher and covered his face with mud to hide that he was American. They also applied various local treatments to his wounds as they transported him through enemy territory.

Finally, after several months of being MIA (missing in action), he ended up at an American Air Force base in Thailand, where American doctors provided further treatment for his wounds.

Once back in the States, the Army transported him to Fitzsimmons Hospital in Colorado, where he continued treatment and struggled through rehab both mentally and physically. The original diagnosis was that he wouldn’t be able to use the injured leg normally again, but Gary worked through the pain, and after surgical repairs and a year of rehab, he could walk normally.

Gary didn’t give up when he was bleeding under the bush; was being transported through the jungle with a critical injury; and was told he would never walk normally again.

Before he went into the service, he was an avid motorcycle rider. His amazing will to survive and recover revolved around getting back home and once again riding his motorcycle to explore and experience new adventures.