Holy People heard Vietnam vet’s prayers

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

PINEDALE — In a foxhole in Vietnam, artillery blasting around him, Marine Cpl. Raphael Martin sat on guard at a large military supply center near DaNang when the Holy People heard his prayers.

“I remember sitting in a foxhole during one of the artillery attacks and I spoke to the Holy People — praying ‘If I ever get home alive from here, I will go home to Pinedale and be a part of what improvement there needs to be.’”

Now, as Pinedale Chapter president, Martin is grateful to have a chance to make life better for his people.

“Going to the Vietnam War, I left behind my relatives carrying gunny sacks of groceries, clothes — even children — on their backs, going home, while leaving their vehicles two or three miles away because of muddy, impassable roads,” Martin said.

Later, they would have to trudge back to retrieve their cars when the roads could be used. He even helped get school buses out of the mud on several occasions, he recalled.

“Many of my relatives did not have passable roads, running water or electricity, as they were living in their hogans,” Martin said.

Seven days after he graduated from Wingate High School, Martin — and his friends, Lee B. Roy of Cove and the late Philip C. Owens, of Breadsprings — joined the Marines.

They left on a train in the middle of the night from Gallup.
He remembered the tough drill instructors, and the large, harsh hours of training. One recruit looked up at an airplane overhead and the drill instructor saw him, and made the recruit run after the plane, Martin said.

“It’s laughable now, but not then,” he said. “Those DIs were strict, something else. That recruit never caught the plane!”

It was 1967 when he went to Vietnam .

“The first 30 days were quiet in Vietnam , suddenly — after midnight, one night — the whole camp came under a barrage of artillery fire,” Martin said.

It was his first taste of combat, and Martin found himself thinking what would his parents think if he came home to them in a plastic bag. With his first combat under his belt, Martin felt safer, knowing he could survive. When his tour ended, he re-upped to go back again.

He spent 27 months in Vietnam.

“I am proud of my service overseas,” he said.

He returned to Pinedale from war, and had traditional ceremonies performed. He didn’t understand then what he put his parents through by going off to war, he said.

“Now, we know what it is like to be parents of sons in a combat zone,” Martin said. “Our sons were both in combat zones.”

Returning from war, Martin served for 15 years in Navajo Law Enforcement — and he didn’t forget his promise to the Holy People.

He has worked hard to improve life in Pinedale.

“The Pinedale community is no longer seeing local people having to park their vehicles miles away from their homes,” Martin said. “The Pinedale community now has running water, with electricity to their homes. Rainbow Trail is paved, major community roads graded. We have a way to go, but improvements are on the move.”

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at hopkins1960@hotmail.com