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Gary Daniel has survivedtwo brushes with death 37years apart. The first oc-curred in Vietnam in 1969.The second occurred fouryears ago halfway aroundthe globe in Mills County.

Coincidentally, a mannamed Hal was amongthe medical personnelwho cared for Daniel bothtimes.

"I never knew him byanything other than Hal. If I knew his last name, I'd tellyou," said the 61-year-oldDaniel, who has lived inMills County for 19 years.

"I think about them (near-death experiences) all thetime. I usually go off some-where in the pasture by my-self when I do. Sometimes,I still wake up in the middle

Gary Daniel, relaxing at his home near Lake Merritt, has survived two near-deathexperiences with the medical assistance of a man named Hal.

Common Denominator- Gary Daniel’s two brushes with death - 

of the night."Daniel, who spent much

of his first six years livingwith his grandparents ontheir place just northeastof Lake Merritt, eventuallymoved to Fort Worth andattended school there. Heleft for Colorado and Wyo-ming to work on ranches atage 16, and two years later,he joined the U. S. MarineCorps. After 20 weeks of basic training and moretraining to be a machinegunner, Daniel was sent tothe Vietnam War in 1969.

He spent most of his ninemonths there in the "bush,"the soldiers' name for the

  jungle. "We were lookingfor Charlie (the generalname U. S. military usedfor the communist forces),"Daniel said. "We didn't

fight every day, but younever relaxed. We were al-ways looking out for them.Sometimes, they found usfirst."

Such was the case oneday in 1969. Daniel hadbeen back in the "bush"about three months after hisfirst medical evacuation, ormedevac, helicopter ridethat was required to treathis malaria and 106-degreefever.

"We were on a placecalled Mother's Ridge, andthey dropped mortars onus," Daniel said. "Those

shells burst into a millionpieces. Those pieces of shrapnel go into your body,and they can kill you."

Daniel was hit by multi-ple pieces of shrapnel in hislower stomach and back. Hestill has the scars, althoughhe has never counted them.He was one of the fortunateones. Several in his groupdied during the attack.

"I don't remember muchabout it. You know you'rehit. I was conscious untilthey started digging thatshrapnel out of me. Theydon't get it all the first time.I had pieces of it work-

ing its way out of me untilsometime in the 1980s,"Daniel said.

His second medevac he-licopter ride was to the USSSanctuary, a hospital shipthat served the U. S. Navyduring the World War II andthe Vietnam War. The Ma-rines had no separate medi-cal personnel and facilities,and were cared for by Navypersonnel. One of the NavyHospital Corpsman whowas assigned to Daniel'sbattalion was Hal. After theattack, Hal patched up Dan-iel and prepared him for themedevac flight to the USS

Sanctuary."They do what they call

battle dressing," Danielsaid. "They stop the bleed-ing and give you morphineand put you on the helicop-ter and send you on."

Daniel spent four monthsrecovering in Japan, andlater served out his dutyin the Marines by trainingother soldiers before theywere deployed to Vietnam.

After returning to theU. S., Daniel lived brieflyin Colorado and then wasa truck driver while liv-ing for 18 years in Spring-town, 30 miles northwestof Fort Worth. In 1991, hereturned to Mills Countyand purchased a piece of his grandparents' land nearLake Merritt.

"It's just home," Dan-iel said of Mills County."When they hauled mefrom here up to Fort Worthwhen I was 6, I didn't likeit. After that, every time Ihad a chance to get loosefor a few days, I'd run backdown here. This is home."

Daniel worked for MillsCounty Precinct 3 (the Mul-lin/Lake Merritt precinct)grading roads, welding orwhatever needed done. OnJune 8, 2006, he was driv-

ing a tractor on CountyRoad 108. The tractor'sengine died and wouldn'tstart. Daniel got out of theseat and on the ground andbegan working on the en-gine.

"It was an older tractor,and when I got it started, Iguess it was in gear," Dan-iel said. "It ran over me.That big tire just grabbedhold of me and pulled meunder."

Daniel suffered a crushedpelvis, several broken ribs,a punctured lung and apunctured heart. Most of his internal organs wereflattened. His injuries weremuch more severe thanthose suffered during theVietnam War.

"I knew I was dead,"Daniel said. "I said, 'Lord,don't let me die down herein the dirt by myself.' Itcrushed my cell phone, butI was able to make one callto 9-1-1. I tried to make an-other call, but it wouldn'twork."

Ed Sanders of a localEMS service answeredDaniel's call. Sanders droveDaniel by ambulance toBrownwood RegionalMedical Center in 31 min-utes. From there, Danielwas flown by helicopterfirst to Abilene and then toHarris Methodist Hospitalin Fort Worth. It was thethird and fourth medevacrides of his life.

"All I remember is thetractor pulling me under,talking to Ed and not be-ing able to breathe," Danielsaid.

He didn't remember themedical personnel at Har-ris Methodist Hospital thathelped unload him and gethim into the emergencyroom. After waking froma 28-day coma, Danielhad a surprise visitor to hishospital room. It was Hal,the former Navy HospitalCorpsman who had pre-pared him for his medevacride after the Vietnam Warinjuries in 1969.

"Hal said he recognizedme when I came off thehelicopter by my (U.S. Ma-rine Corps) tattoo on myleft arm," Daniel said. "Hetold me he had been part of the crew that took me off the helicopter in Vietnam.It was hard to believe. Whatare the chances of that hap-pening again -- of bump-ing into somebody like thatagain?

"I told him he was myguardian angel."

Daniel underwent sevensurgeries and was eitherhospitalized or in a reha-bilitation program for fivemonths in Fort Worth. Hewalks with a limp and hasto use a cane to get around.But all the crushed, flat-tened and broken bodyparts have mended.

"They said I died onthem three times that day.I don't remember any of it," Daniel said. "I feel veryfortunate. The good Lordanswered that prayer thatday. I thought I'd die. I justdidn't want to die downthere in the dirt by myself."

Hal visited Daniel a fewtimes in the hospital, butfrankly, Daniel wasn't well

enough for long talks. Afterhe was moved to begin re-hab, Daniel didn't see Hal.Daniel talks of somedaygoing to Fort Worth andfinding Hal. Now that Dan-iel is doing OK, it wouldseem the two would haveplenty to talk about.

"I'd like to meet up withhim again," Daniel said,"just so it's somewhere elsebesides on a helicopter."