Don Goodliffe

“By the time I became draftable age, I was married and had a daughter,” said Don. “I was running a small welding parts and equipment business that had been in my family for three generations and I couldn’t afford to go away. So, I joined the Army Reserves.”
Don served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1966 to 1972. “They squeezed four months of basic training into two weeks after I initially joined,” Don said. “We were stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. For the next six years, we trained there for two weeks each summer. The whole time I was in the Reserves I worried that our unit would be called to go to Vietnam. Fortunately, we never received the call. Don’s Division, the 78th, also met once each week during the remaining months of the year.
Summers were devoted to bivouac training, marching, camping, and firing the M-14 rifle. “I was awarded a medal as an Expert Shooter,” he said.