A Promise Kept: by Allen J. Folk

Sgt. Bobby Ray Hatfield

Sgt. Bobby Ray Hatfield, USMC, was born on February 21, 1945, in Pineville, KY.  He was the son of Mr. & Mrs. Joe G. Hatfield.

On December 26, 1945, thirty-one miners entered a coal mine in Four Mile, Kentucky.  There was a mine explosion and only eight men came out of the mine alive.  Bobby's dad was one of those eight survivors.

On January 7, 1946, the mine explosion was shown in every movie theater across the United States.  This video can be seen on YouTube.  It's called, "Saga of a Mining Town" (Part 1 of 2).

After the explosion, Mr. Joe Hatfield told his family that none of his children would ever work in a coal mine.

Sgt. Bobby Ray Hatfield graduated from Bell County High School and on Sundays, he taught Sunday school in the West Pineville Baptist Church.  He enjoyed fishing with his trusted friend, Richard Peace.

Later, Bobby moved to Detroit, Michigan, with his two sisters and brother-in-law and he worked for him repairing cars. From there, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. When Sgt. Hatfield got to Vietnam, he was attached to A-Co., 3rd Engr. Bn, 3rd Marine Div. at Base Camp Dong-Ha where he was a heavy equipment operator.

I landed in Vietnam on my birthday, July 8, 1967.  I was first attached to Supt-Co., 3rd Engr. Bn., in Phu-Bai and three weeks later, I transferred to C-Co at Dong-Ha, where my MOS was 3531, Motor Transport. That is when I met Sgt. Bobby Hatfield and we became instant friends.  For many days, Sgt. Hatfield taught me how to operate heavy equipment.

A short time later, Cpl. Brian C. Felder was also transferred to C-Co., and from then on, the three of us were always together.

Sgt. Hatfield was liked by the Company Commander and everyone else, all the way down.  I would always joke with him by asking him for his autograph.  When he asked me, "Why?" I would tell him that when I get home, I could say I met one of the Righteous Brothers.  As we all know, the Righteous Brothers were Bill Medly and Bobby Hatfield, who were known for their number one song, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.

Since he was from Kentucky, we also used to tease him by asking, "Who were the better shooters, the Hatfields, or the McCoys?" (HaHa!)  Of course, he always said the Hatfields were and then the fun would start.  (HaHa!)

On February 19, 1968, Sgt. Hatfield had only two days left before he was to go home.  I wanted to make sure that I had the chance to say goodbye to our best friend, so I stopped in at his hootch.  He was shining his shoes and when he saw me, he said, "I am going to make these Marine Corps shoes look like $40.00 store-bought shoes."

Suddenly, we came under attack.  A shell landed right outside the bunker and a piece of shrapnel came through the port hole, killing Sgt. Hatfield instantly.

After Brian Felder and I got home and discharged from the Corps, we kept in contact with one another.  We made a promise that when we could find where Sgt. Hatfield was buried, we would go there and pay our respects to him.

As the years went by, every time I could find his name, it would always come up that he was from Detroit MI.  I knew that wasn't correct.

In July of 2010, I asked my daughter to look for Sgt. Hatfield on her computer, since I didn't have one.  One day, she told me she had found his name posted on a Facebook Memorial Page, thanks to Sgt. Hatfield's nephew, Stephen Hatfield in Pineville, Kentucky.  I then made contact with Stephen Hatfield and called Brian to tell him I finally located Sgt. Hatfield's grave in Pineville, Kentucky.

Brian C. Felder and Allen J. Folk

Brian and I, along with our wives, planned a trip to Kentucky.  We agreed we would do this for Veteran's Day, November 11, 2010.

On that day, we had a memorial service at his grave site.  Rev. Shawn Allen from the West Pineville Baptist Church did the service at the grave.

[Photo:  Bobby's grave site, November 11, 2010, in the Pineville Cemetery, Pineville, Kentucky]

When we met the Hatfield family and Sgt. Hatfield's childhood fishing buddy, Richard Peace, our first question to his brother, Lee Hatfield, was, "Why Detroit MI?"

Lee then told me about their dad surviving the coal mine explosion and what he said to all of his children.

Since that time, we have a wreath placed on Sgt. Hatfield's grave twice a year, on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

I know many combat veterans will always have that one special buddy they will never forget.  Sgt. Bobby Ray Hatfield was Brian's and mine.  We never gave up hope that we would find him.

That is a promise we kept ...

Cpl. Allen J. Folk
Newmanstown PA


Also by Allen J. Folk:

8th of November: My Part of the Story
The Real Men of Full Metal Jacket


“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale


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8th of November: My Part of The Story: by Allen J. Folk

About The 8th of November ...

“On November 8th, 1965, the 173rd Airborne Brigade on Operation Hump, War Zone D in Vietnam, were ambushed by over 1200 V.C. 

The result of the battle was heavy losses on both sides. Forty-eight American soldiers lost their lives that day, many more wounded, and 403 dead PLAF troops.

Severely wounded and risking his own life, Lawrence Joll, a medic, was the first living black man since the Spanish-American War to receive the United States Medal of Honor for saving so many lives in the midst of battle on that day.

Nialls Harris, retired 25 years, United States Army, the guy who gave Big Kenny his top hat, was one of the wounded who lived.  In 2006, the country music duo, Big & Rich came out with a new musical video called, "8th of November".  This song is his story. 

Caught in the action of kill or be killed, greater love hath no man to lay down his life for a friend.”

Allen J. Folk

My Part of The Story  

By Allen J. Folk

In May, 1968, I and a few other engineers were sent to the Fire Base Cam-Lo. It was located at the foothills of Con-Thien.

During the day, we were taking a lot of incoming from Cam-Lo up to Con-Thien. At one point, we heard a cry for help, and saw a chopper trying to land.

I gave the order and I and four other marines ran out of our bunker without regard for our own safety to help save the life of a seriously wounded Marine sergeant.

Despite being shelled, we ran through enemy gunfire to put him on the chopper. I don't know what happened to the wounded marine after that. All I know is, if we hadn't gotten him out of there, he would have bled to death.

What we didn't know was, there was a war correspondent filming all of this from the chopper.

In June of 2006, I was watching CMT on TV and I saw that Big & Rich, the country duo, had come out with a new musical video called, “8th of November”, to honor one of the survivors, Nialls Harris.

To my surprise, while watching the video, I found myself and the four other marines right there in the video. I called CMT and spoke with a man named Kevin Lane. I told him that I saw myself on the video. He told me that he would send me a copy of the video. He asked me to write down what happened on that day and send it to him and I did.

Rescuing a Wounded Marine - Allen Folk (at the rear)

Two weeks later on CMT, they had Big & Rich on and they were talking about the new video.

Big Kenny told CMT that Kevin Lane gave them a letter from a Marine who was on the video with his men and they could be seen in the act of saving a Marine’s life.

Well, that was MY letter.

Later on, I found out that our act of bravery was used in other documentaries, as well: Time Life’s "BATTLEFIELD VIETNAM: COUNTDOWN TO TET”; OLIVER NORTH'S WAR STORIES: “LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND”, PART 1: “THE BATTLE OF CON-THIEN” which was on Mike Wallace’s CBS News; and “8th of November Documentary”, and lastly, “The 8th of November”.

We were in no way heroes that day. We did this as an act of compassion, because in no way were we gonna let a United States Marine lay in the mud to bleed to death.

At the top of this blog post is a picture of the scene of the documentary we are in. I am the marine that is running in the rear of the cot we placed this marine on.

In July of 2010, our local newspaper, The Reading Eagle, was asking veterans to submit their story, so I gave them mine.  It was the one about the time we were caught on film saving a Marines life under fire.

My Story - Allen J. Folk

In November 2010, the book was published.  They put my picture on the cover and my story is on page 152.

Big & Rich – 8^th Of November Official Video

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale

The Real Men of "Full Metal Jacket"

By Allen J. Folk

["Real" Sgt. Kurtz, Played by R. Lee Ermy]

CJ, I want to tell you a true story:

On November, 1966, a recruit by the name of Jerry Gustav Hasford, graduated from Parris Island, South Carolina.

Jerry was in Platoon #3092 and Sgt. Frank J. Kurtz, and Cpl. Ron Guidry were his drill instructors.

During the Vietnam War, Jerry Hasford was a Marine war combat correspondent. After he was discharged from the Marine Corps, he went on to become a writer and in 1979, he wrote an autobiographical novel called: "The Short Timers". 

That novel was used to make the movie, "Full Metal Jacket", and Jerry was asked by Hollywood, to help to write the script for the movie. 

Jerry told the producers of the movie that since his book was based on his own wartime experiences, he wanted the men from his Platoon to be used for the movie.  Of course, the movie star, Mathew Modine, was the one who played the part of him, the wise-cracking Pvt, Joker. 

Author, Jerry Gustav Hasford

Also, Jerry was friends with a recruit named Dick Koehn.  Dick was the soldier that Sgt. Frank J. Kurtz caught stealing the doughnuts from the drill instructor quarters. 

Actor R. Lee Ermy

Well, Jerry wanted that to be in the movie, too, and of course Vincent D'onofrio, was the movie star who played the goofy recruit, Pvt. Plye, who got caught with the jelly doughnut in his foot locker.

E. Ray Ermy, the movie star who played tough and gritty Gunny Hartman, was actually playing the part of the real Sgt. Frank J. Kurtz.

Unfortunately, Jerry Gustav died impoverished at the age of 45 on January 29, 1993, on the island of Aegina, Greece, from his out of control diabetes. It was thought to have been caused by the agent orange that was sprayed in Vietnam.

Below is a picture of Dick Koehn. When Dick was in Platoon #3092, he was friends with Jerry Gustav Hasford. Dick was the coffee boy for the drill instructors. We called them “house mouses”. 

Dick Koehn

One day, the senior drill instructor, Sgt. Frank J. Kurtz, caught Dick stealing a couple of doughnuts from the drill instructor’s quarters and the rest of the platoon paid for them.

When Jerry was writing some of the script for the movie, he told the producers that he wanted this fact to be portrayed in the movie and, of course, they got Vincent D'onofrio, the movie star, to act out the part about when Dick Koehn got caught with the doughnuts. 

When I went to boot camp on August 18, 1965, Cpl. Frank J. Kurtz was our Jr. drill instructor for our platoon #361.  

After we left boot camp, Frank got promoted to E-5 Sgt, and became the senior drill instructor for platoon #3092, along with Cpl. Ron Guidry.  He was the Jr. drill instructor who trained Jerry Gustav Hasford.

Frank and his wife, Margaret, are very good friends of my wife and I and we get together every year, along with two other friends that I grew up with and went to boot camp with in platoon #361.  

We all have a lot of respect for Frank Kurtz.  His training is what kept us alive in Vietnam.

Allen J. Folk 

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale