Saving Larry: A Job for the Lord

By Larry Dale Fernatt

This book tells the true story of a young man who served his country well in both the United States Marines and the United States Army. It gives the horrendous events surrounding his time in Vietnam, his injuries so critical, his death seem imminent. It details his recovery time of nearly three years in Walter Reed Hospital.

After returning home, he took whatever job he could find. Later his near death experience in the coal mines cost him another eighteen months out of work. The night of the accident in the mines, just before the kettlebottom fell, he was sure he heard a voice telling him to turn around and when he did, the kettlebottom fell from the roof and crushed his leg. There was no one around to warn him, so where did that voice come from.

He had always stressed that he didn't need anyone, but he had a wife and three sons who always felt they were on the outside looking in on his life. Since he couldn't share himself for fear of being hurt, he built a wall and even God wasn't invited in. In 2014, the wall started crumbling when he found himself in a situation beyond his control.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514457764

Larry Dale Fernatt

Larry Dale Fernatt was born May 23, 1941, at home in Standard, West Virginia. His parents were Ceif and Clara Fernatt. His father was a coal miner, as were his two brothers. His mother was well-known for praying long, meaningful prayers throughout the coal camp. He and his mother were very close. He served in the US Marines and the US Army. While in the army, he fought in Vietnam and was injured to the point of death, spent nearly three years recovering in Walter Reed Hospital. He received a purple heart and a silver star for his bravery in Vietnam. He was released in October of 1968 with 80 percent disability. He went to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He studied there to become an air craft mechanic. He graduated from Embry Riddle in 1971. He then returned to West Virginia determined to find a job using his new skills. He went to work in the coal mines in 1971, late summer. He was injured very badly in August 1975 when a large piece of kettlebottom fell from the roof of the mine. A voice had told him to “to get up and turn around,” an action that saved his life. There was no one around. He had been alone in that area of the mine. Had he not turned around, the kettlebottom would have crushed him. He went on later to become a postmaster and after sixteen years with USPS, he retired in 1999 due to a blood allergy caused from “agent orange” exposure. In 2014, at seventy-three he was convicted of three felonies that caused him to be sentenced to forty years in prison with a chance of parole in twenty years. This is his story.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Larry Dale Fernatt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 02/11/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

729875

CONTENTS

1.   United States Marines – 1958

2.   United States Army – 1963

3.   Vietnam – 1965

4.   Clark Air Force Base Hospital – Philippines

5.   Walter Reed Army Hospital

6.   Coal Mines – 1971

7.   Postal Service – 1982

8.   Retirement: Counseling – 1999

9.   Vietnam Wall

10.   Lost My Mind – 2014

11.   Home Confinement

12.   Sentencing Day – February 2, 2015

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my Lord and Savior. I praise his holy name. I also want to thank my loving wife and partner for all those years she prayed and still suffered because of my PTSD and other mental disorders caused by the trauma of war.

I dedicate this with much love to my sister, Delores Hunt, who prayed for me and encouraged me, although she did not condone any of the reasons I am here. She offered her heart to me in forgiveness, and I will always love her for that. She is a minister herself, so, like my wife, she shared in the joy of my salvation. I also dedicate this book to my youngest son and his family and thank them for their compassion, understanding, and love.

I want to thank my sister-in-law, Wanda Thibodeaux, for her help with writing this book and helping me tell my story. Years ago, she wrote a poem for me, Soldiers of the Stone. I wanted that poem to preface my story. She has brought to life the times that I am proudest of and also the times I truly regret.

I am grateful to all who stood by me, who tried to understand and not dwell on my guilt but sought through prayer that I might find peace in my Heavenly Father. You all know who you are, and I thank you very much.

Prologue

The idea for this book was conceived after I was charged with three felonies and put in jail. I was incarcerated for sexual abuse, sexual molestation, and incest. My life changed, it seemed, in the blink of an eye, and I was thrown into a world I never would have believed myself to be in. I had never been in trouble with the law and had never been in jail. My record was clean. This is not to say that I am an angel; I’m not. My whole family will attest to that.

I suffer from PTSD and can be terribly moody, sometimes despondent, and always impatient. My family suffered forty-four years before God stepped in and took charge. My sons have been raised with only a shadow for a father, tough love being the only kind of love I had to offer. My wife has lived a life of intimidation and fear for most of those forty-four years. She stuck by me though, and I will never forget that. Her dedication to my salvation was powerful and long lasting. She has prayed for thirty-four years for me to be saved. Her faith was strong, and her prayers were more than frequent.

As it happened, I had been put in the pickle room in jail, a strange and terrifying room for suicidal inmates, which I didn’t qualify for, but those in authority do as they see fit in those places. They thought I should be there. There was hardly any spare room, and I just