Good Mornin’! Good Mornin’!
Every so often on the way to town, the old Moorhead National Guard Armory parking lot would be filled with trucks. Men who came together to give of their time to serve our country. One of those who eventually signed up for a six-year commitment with the National Guard was a friend of mine since the third grade – Bill McClellan. He grew up less than a football field from the Moorhead Armory. A Boy Scout, an athlete and a patriot who had a desire to serve. Halfway through his senior year, he signed up for his “University of Fort Knox” education.
“I didn’t have any connections (to military) but that was one reason I wanted to join. It’s something I always believed in and thought every male should serve in some capacity,” McClellan said. “All my buddies were having fun in Florida and I was doing Left, Right, Charlie at Fort Knox.”
As a member of A Company Second 198, he would eventually achieve the rank of E5 Sergeant and he learned everything about the M60 A1 Tank and how do drive it, how to load it, how to shoot it and how to command the unit inside it.
“You got four people in a tank and you have to work as a team. But they’re not made for comfort (laughing). Everything in there is all steel. It’s made for battle,” he said.
During his tenure, his unit was not called up but always stood ready. He trained and trained and gave of his time and the National Guard paid for his education at MDJC, now MDCC.
“One of the scariest things at Basic Training is when you have to throw a live grenade,” Sergeant McClellan said. “You talk about some things getting tight (laughing.) You have a grenade in your hand and you know it’s hot. The drill sergeant says, ‘pull pin’ and then ‘release’ and you release and once you release, that grenade blows up in three to five seconds. I threw that sucker as far as I could.”
The next step was going to a bunker where he kneeled down, pulled the pin and “you had to wait three seconds and then drop the grenade in that bunker. I think a couple of guys peed in their pants.”
His training also including handling a .45 1911 pistol, M16 rifle, 30/50 caliber and the tanker 105 mm main gun. During training he earned the Dixie Thunder Award, “like a Super Trooper Award,” he explained.
Sergeant McClellan left the Guard after his six years to raise his family. These days the carpenter by trade teaches at MDCC and will add teaching at Gentry. He relishes his Army education.
“It will make you grow up real quick. You don’t come home, you’re there for four months training 16-hours a day. You learn discipline and respect and love of country. I just cringe when I see somebody who doesn’t acknowledge the colors at a football game. You don’t understand what somebody sacrificed for those colors being raised. You can shut up and be reverent for two minutes.”
The Army National Guard, veterans standing ready to serve. Thanks, Bill McClellan for your service.
