Vietnam War veteran remembers smell of death in jungle
Jan 21, 2012
By Chick Jacobs
Staff writer
Forty years later, Major Wilfork still can't forget the smell.
The deep, pungent aroma of jungle mingling, then giving way to, the dizzying smell of death, left to simmer in a subtropical stew of heat and humidity.
"People say the things they saw in Vietnam were bad," Wilfork said softly. "I promise you, that smell ... it stays with you a long time after. A long time."
During his time in Vietnam, the Florida native had a job that no one else wanted: body retrieval. It was his job to bring home the bodies that might otherwise become lost in the vast jungle.
"People would say, 'Man, how can you do the stuff you got to do?' " Wilfork said from his home just off Ramsey Street. Now nearly 60, he is still as lean and wiry as the former high school quarterback who joined the Marines in the late '60s.
Thirty-five years after leaving the Corps, he can still fit in his work uniform, and he treasures his "anchor and eagle" - the Marine Corps symbol attached to his service cap.
"Not many people could do it. But it had to be done. It was important, it was an honor.
"But it was tough - real tough. You saw things in the jungle that ... well, hell is the only way to put it."
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Good afternoon Major Wilfork,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Mark Thompson, propmgt@earthlink.net. I understand the death smell. It is horrible did two consecutive tours, in the U.S. Peace Corps. Lesotho and Malawi. Malawi had a LOT of AIDS dead. My project dealt with rural clinics and villages. AIDS and nutrition.
I had a motorcycle to cover territory. My therapist asked me if there were any other PC Volunteers who have this experience? I did an extended, special tour. The others were teachers. No way did they know what I know. The AIDS dead were many. There are few, if any mortuary services. At the least, was a shade tree until extended family picked them up. Or, they left them at the Mozambique border. They were stacked on top of eachother in some graves. 100 degree weather. I saw the wheelbarrow guy with three bodies, once. He usually had one or two to bring back to their villages. I was supposed to be strong. I am not that person, anymore. The nightmares came back with a beautiful July walk that hit with the smell of a dead thing on the side of the road. Not a skunk, but death. It is a horrible trigger. I know the feeling!
I didn't carry a weapon. I am at the mercy of local therapy. And, the Office of Worker's Compensation. If I picked up a weapon I would be seen at any VA. God, to have served your country and not get help? I hate that smell!
Best of luck to you, sir!
Mark Thompson