Retired Maj. Clarence Sprouse was a soldier who never worried about dying and never got hurt, even in hand-to-hand combat.
As one war blurred into three, the legend grew. Gen. William DuPuy, a highly decorated veteran who played a key role in restructuring the post-Vietnam Army, called him the “perfect soldier.”
“He told me I was the bravest guy that he's ever seen and, really, I wasn't,” said Sprouse, who received a battlefield commission from DuPuy while serving as the 1st Infantry Division's command sergeant major in Vietnam. “I was just as scared as everybody else. I didn't show it at all, but I didn't hesitate.”
A paratrooper who was the first soldier in the 11th Airborne Division to make 100 static line jumps and held more than 80 decorations when retiring here in 1968, Sprouse received two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars for valor, 18 Air Medals for assault landings and three Combat Infantry Badges.
He's still fit at 86, and his memories of war in the Pacific, Korea and Vietnam are as clear as if they happened yesterday. His voice is that of a soldier given to using colorful language that includes politically incorrect references to old enemies.
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