Hometown Heroes - David Grimm

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - David Grimm signed up for the Marine Corps in 1968, knowing full well that the Vietnam War was raging in Southeast Asia. Grimm still remembers what it was like the first time he shot at the enemy.

“The first man I shot, I cried,” recalled Grimm. “I literally watched him fall and I cried. But then I looked over at the guy beside me and he was dead. The crying stopped. It stopped. It’s something that clicks inside of you. You know, you’re here to defend your country, but you’re also here to defend yourself.”

Grimm’s 2 tours of duty in Vietnam included some bloody fighting. He remembers being on night patrol at Khe Sanh.

“Just as it was breaking daylight, I watched my point man get shot. I raised my arm up to let my men know to get down, and I got shot in the arm, the muscle came out,and it spun me around and I got shot in the back of the leg in the knee.”

Grimm was awarded the Purple Heart for his injuries. He admits it was hard to return home to a nation that was divided over America’s presence in Vietnam.

“Maybe I am a little bitter. But I’m not bitter to the point where I wouldn’t do it again because if they came to me and said, ‘Would you go back?’ I know they won’t take me. I’m 71 years old now. But I would.”

Grimm is especially proud of his three sons, David, Mike and Scott, who followed their dad and joined the Marines, and served in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.