Profiles
in Patriotism
James
Credle
Some Kind of Hero
by
Denny Meyer
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James
Credle took a bullet a long ago in a jungle in
Vietnam. He fell to the ground, got up, and
continued to help evacuate other injured soldiers.
He was a medic. "It was in Tay Ninh
Province, down below Saigon near the rubber
plantations. We were doing a lot of S & D (search and
destroy) missions," He told me. "We were
going thru jungle trying to evac. a severely injured
soldier; we were cutting our way thru jungle to get to the
air
evac. location; and bullets began to fly past us, we ducked down to
ground, when it stopped we resumed. That happened
three times. The fourth time, I was
hit. I was patched up and we continued
onward. Later, of course, I had to join him on
the med evac. helicopter."
It
doesn't sound like much, does it? Unless, of
course, you're on a rescue mission in a jungle
thousands of miles from home surrounded by Viet Cong guerrillas
trying to kill you.
James
Credle was drafted into the US Army and served from
1965 to 1967, leaving as a Spec. 4 Medic. He
received a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star with V for
Valor,
the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry, and an Army
Commendation Medal among other awards for his service. He happens to be a gay
American and a black American. Neither of those
has anything to do with being a hero nor with being
qualified and able to serve in our nation's armed
forces. In 1948 President Truman integrated
black Americans into our armed forces by executive
order, prohibiting racial discrimination in our
military and recognizing the courage and valor of
black Americans who have served in World War II and
since. And yet, this brave proud American
soldier could have been dishonorably discharged due to
the discriminatory policy against gay Americans
serving in our armed forces, despite his heroism in
combat in Vietnam. Today, under the Don't Ask
Don't Tell policy, those serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan still must hide who they are if they are
gay. Gay American service members are still
discharged today, at the rate of two per day, despite
heroism and critical skills, simply because of a
policy that selects them for discrimination. And
every year, some 3500 gay American service members
simply do not reenlist because of the unbearable
burden of serving in silence; a full brigade of
trained, skilled soldiers lost each year.
When he
was drafted, James Credle knew that he was gay, but
said nothing--in essence volunteering when he could
have avoided serving. "I didn't think about
not serving," he said. "I was working
at a Veterans hospital in Lyons, New Jersey, helping
mostly WWI, WWII, Korean War, and newly hospitalized Vietnam vets;
I heard all their stories, I knew what to
expect. I knew about the reality of being in a
war. I went, it was the right thing to
do." He was 20 years old at the time.
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In
Vietnam, as it is today in Iraq, he was able to be
open with those around him. When mortars and
bullets are flying, no one cares if the man next to
him happens to of a different race or sexual
orientation or both. At times like that, he
said, "we
anticipate that we might not come back, we're open
with each other, it might be the last chance we have
to relate honestly with another human being."
And
yet, while serving in Vietnam as a young man of 20, he
began to understand the meaning of discrimination
against others. "While I was in Vietnam, in
1967, I saw the area where I lived in Newark burning
during the 1967 Newark riots-"rebellion." I was fighting for my country and
saw my home burning due to police brutality. I
began to more deeply understand how it feels to be treated as less
than human. And often, in war, we kill others
when we consider them to be less than human; on both
sides. I call on those who understand racism to
realize how they condemn their own children and others
for being gay. How dare they claim that as the
right path?"
James
Credle grew up in the south, in North Carolina, where
he saw "White Only" water fountains and
toilets, where he had to
sit outside eating his lunch from a paper bag, where
he was bussed past white Pamlico County
"High" school to what was the black Pamlico County
"Training" School. "In
the military, as a gay person, all of that impacted on
my experience. I came to better understand the
world."
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Sadly,
he saw racial conflict within our own armed forces
while he was serving. "Many vets of color
were dishonorably discharged. Even now, forty
years later, some are homeless or in
prison." He explained that many were unable
to overcome double discrimination when they tried to
transition back to civilian life. Vietnam vets
were not welcomed home as heroes
and black vets returned home to the same employment
discrimination they faced before having served their
nation. "At that time," Mr. Credle
said, "people used the bible to condone racism;
now they use it to condone heterosexism.
Both use power to put people on a lower level than
themselves. It has been empowerment by race and
now its discriminatory empowerment by
sexuality." He believes that it is
important to challenge people to think about their
bigotry, "in order to create a different world,
not recreating the mess we came from."
After
his service in Vietnam, he went back to work at the VA
hospital, and studied sociology at Rutgers University,
under the GI bill, graduating third in his
class. He became a counselor for veterans,
working at Rutgers for 37 years becoming Director of
the Office of Veterans Affairs, and later, the Assistant Dean of Students.
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Over
the nearly four decades following his experience in
Vietnam, he was a founding member of the National
Association for Black Veterans, a founding member
of New Jersey & National Veteran Programs
Administrators, Vice Chair of the New Jersey Agent
Orange Commission, and the Executive Director of the
National Council of Churches' Veterans in Prisons
program (serving 23 programs around the US, developing
programs to assist veterans in prison; and developing
a 'discharge upgrade project'). He was also a
founding member and co-chair of the National
Association of Black and White Men Together, and its
New York affiliate Men of All Colors Together/New
York.
Currently,
he is a founding member of the Newark Pride
Alliance, following the murder of Sakia Gunn,
which is seeking to create a community center
and safe spaces in Newark for LGBT
people; and strives to build community
understanding to alleviate abusive bias and
discrimination against the LGBTIQ and
Two-Spirited community. |
"In my upbringing there was no place
for anger," he said, "that's a luxury.
My parents had 14
children, in our home there was no place for anger; it
was more about trying to live another day. As in
Vietnam, when the bullets were flying, there was no time
for protest. We were busy trying to save lives.
If you're still alive, later, then you can
protest."
Guided
by his rearing and his realization, during
combat in Vietnam, that conflict was dehumanizing, he
devoted his efforts for nearly 40 years to creating
change for the better. He's some kind of hero.
©
2007 Gay Military Signal
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