Shot in the Mouth and Still Preaching

A teenager fights for his life in the jungles of Vietnam after getting shot in the mouth. Tom Wilson was saved. He became a minister and never lost his sense of humor about the tragedy he suffered. This is his story….

Welcome to this edition of Newsgram.

Being a human is hard. We are faced with choices on a daily basis and it’s those choices that define us; both individually and collectively. Yes, life can be hard. Sometimes we make the right call and things work out great…and other times not so much. When we make bad decisions we have to deal with them and that builds character. To quote Mark Twain “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions”.

So what happens when bad things happen to you and it wasn’t your decision? It can be hard to keep a sense of humor, that’s for sure. Tom Wilson was drafted into the Vietnam War. The U.S. has not had a draft since 1973 but back then things were different. You could be an eighteen year old kid with an M-16 on your back on patrol in a Vietnamese jungle.

Tom Wilson – just turned eighteen years old when I went to Vietnam and in fact one of my nicknames there was “the kid” because I was so young.

Tom was an infantryman, a job that on paper means to capture, destroy, and deter enemy forces. As the radio guy, he walked in front of the other men. So there he was, weighing in at a whopping 138 pounds, carrying a 45 pound radio on his back, a .45-caliber pistol, an M-16 and plenty of hand-grenades, M-16 clips, smoke grenades, and other stuff.

Tom Wilson – I was a tank driver and that’s what I was trained for but they needed a guy so I ended up being an infantryman and then they for some reason looked at me and said that um, you’re going to carry the radio. I had no clue what that meant and I found out later on that it was about a forty-five pound thing you put on your back and then found out later on that that’s one of the most dangerous jobs to have because that’s what they shoot at first. They see an antenna sticking up.

And so that’s exactly what happened. In his new book, “Shot in the Mouth and Still Preaching” Tom recounts his full experience.

Tom Wilson – We didn’t realize that we were going into a horseshoe trap. This was February 14th, Valentines Day. We lost them. We stopped. I leaned my radio up against tree which I usually do because it’s heavy and I heard a zing-zing going by me and I didn’t fall I just turned around and looked and one of the rounds hit the ground, bounced up, went into my jaw and lodged into my cheekbone and I knee dup longs a percent of my jaw and nine teeth. I never passed out but I heard people all around me yelling for medic and I didn’t know who was hit and I kind of rubbed my cheek and my chin and I saw the blood and I said aw man it must be me and so I started yelling and of course when I yelled I loosened the bullet and the bullet came out. My teeth and all that stuff came out and I had the bullet in my hand for a while but then my medic came and wrapped my head up.

The area was so hot that he couldn’t get airlifted out until the next morning. Fortunately he lived to tell the story. So what got him through the ordeal? Have that expression “well….if you can’t take a joke”.

Tom Wilson – Yea my sense of humor, I still have it. I’m so positive. I enjoy life and I don’t let anything get me down.

Tom is no stranger to adversity. He says “…your attitude makes the biggest difference during tough…” and he should know. Being shot in Vietnam wasn’t the only thing he had to overcome.

Tom Wilson – Just in the last 8,9,10 months I had prostate cancer. Went through radiation and three months after that I had a heart attack and a couple of stents in my one artery it was ninety-nine percent blocked and I had little small one that was about thirty percent but yea, I read a small book a long time ago and it was just titled Happiness is a Choice and it’s true. I mean I’m not belittling people that have problems and how they get through them and maybe don’t get through them but I just chose no matter what goes on in my life I’m not gonna let that get me down because I’m gonna choose that no matter what. It’s kind of how I live. I thought of that when I was a young age.

Tom’s not the only one who says a sense of humor and a positive attitude can help get through almost anything. Laughter is strong medicine — look it up. I know that it’s easier to say than do sometimes but there’s wisdom there. According to the Mayo clinic a few giggles can go a long way to relieving stress and less stress is a prescription for a healthier you.

His book “Shot in the Mouth and Still Preaching” recounts his mission in Vietnam, his home life and the faith and philosophy that got him through the tough times. It’s a book for anyone going through a crisis in their life…especially if you’re struggling to get through it.

Tom Wilson – It’s overwhelming. I couldn’t believe it when I got the copy in my hand and I looked at Sandy, my wife and said look at this. This really happened. It’s encouraging to me the number of copies that have been sold from people from church or wherever are buying it and giving it as gifts. It’s very, very, very humbling to me what’s going on here.

“Shot in the Mouth and Still Preaching” an encouraging book that will show you that with faith and the right attitude you get through anything. Available now online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and that will do it for this edition of Newsgram from webtalkradio.com

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