A local paper (repeated at the Stars and Stripes) carries the story of Vietnam veteran and former Marine Capt Boyd “Bo” Barclay, a helicopter pilot brought down by small arms fire on 8 June 1967:

“The next burst came through the cockpit and hit me in the hand, blew my hand up and I didn’t see any hand there,” he recalled. “And I said, ‘I’m hit!’”

He reached over to grab a pressure point and the next thing he heard the pilot say is, “I’m dead. I’m dead.” He turned and looked at the pilot who was hanging in his straps…

Barclay and two of his crewmembers survived, and Barclay credits God for that:

When he was shot down, the valley of the shadow of death, words from the 23rd Psalm, were all around him, Barclay said.

“But I was never scared because a few weeks earlier the Lord had assured me that He was gonna take care of me,” he said.

Barclay said when he tells people about the story he says he’s alive for three reasons — for some reason God wanted him to be alive, his Marine Corps training and he was rescued by those two young Marines.

Barclay was awarded a Silver Star — the third highest medal the US military bestows for valor.  He has been nominated for the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame.

More of Barclay’s story is available here.