Local firm helping Louisiana businesses recover from flood

A Mississippi County firm is part of the recovery effort in flood-ravaged Louisiana.

Wallace Resources, owned by State Rep. Dave Wallace (R-Leachville), has around 250 working to clean up businesses in Baton Rouge.

Wallace told the Rotary Club of Blytheville on Thursday that the number will likely reach 400.

"It's total devastation in that area," Wallace said. "We do nothing but commercial work, and I'm kind of glad of that because there is just so much sadness when you get out into the residential areas and you see what all is going on."

He explained that he has two groups in the flooded areas, led by 100 supervisors that are trained water and fire technicians, most of them former members of the military.

"I've got a real good crew of former military and a lot of former police officers that go out and do that for us," Wallace said, noting they are the core group. The disaster relief company then recruits local personnel to help with the recovery.

"We have found by putting one of our supervisors on top of 10 folks that we really leverage his experience and we have a real good workforce," Wallace said. "We've blended them together and for us it works really well."

The company will pull out everything, including the walls and carpet if necessary. The amount of damage determines how much is removed.

"In this case, in Louisiana, it's going to be total removal," Wallace said.

Meanwhile, Wallace also spoke about his 21 years in the United State Army, including his last combat mission in Vietnam.

He and his 16-man platoon lost a sergeant in that final battle.

"We fought until five minutes before the cease fire," Wallace recalled.

Wallace said it was called a victory, "but for me it was a battle that scarred my soul forever because of the losses that we took."

Wallace said his cavalry unit's job was reconnaissance, always looking for the enemy.

He remembers flying the aircraft that day and hearing President Richard Nixon say there would be a cease fire on Jan. 27, 1973.

Wallace described how his platoon began searching for the enemy.

"We call it a movement to contact," he said. "You move out and you're looking to make contact with the enemy to find out where they are and to find the edges of his unit and to try to develop and define what that unit is so you know what you're up against."

Twenty minutes into the mission, the orders changed and so did the lives of the platoon.

The unit was charged with rescuing two wounded Rangers and Sgt. Robert Franks did just that.

"We changed directions, went up on a plateau, found the Rangers," Wallace said. "We tried to rescue them very quickly and couldn't. The enemy firepower was such that I order Franks' aircraft in twice and he couldn't get in. They started firing and took fire back. He had break contact, had to pull back.

"Eventually, I had to pull in our two gun shifts. We had enough firepower that we defeated that segment of the enemy. Then, I sent Franks and his aircraft back in. They went in, at this time I'm about 100 yards behind the aircraft. And Franks jumps out of the aircraft and these two Rangers were both wounded and having a hard time getting in the aircraft. And Franks grabs the first one and physically throws him on the aircraft. He goes back and gets the second one and gets him on the aircraft. They take off."

"If the story ended there, it would be a great story," he continued. "But the story goes on. They went about 200 yards, they were up on a plateau. And they started taking massive fire from their left flank."

Wallace said he told him to break right, which he did.

"But by that time they took hits," he said. "He just barely got over the plateau and the aircraft just kind of spun and hit the ground."

The aircraft was on its side with Franks under it.

"The two Rangers got out," Wallace said. "The pilot got out. Franks didn't get out. We lost him. And after two hours of intense circling and fighting and shooting we were able to get in and get those two guys out."

Wallace said Franks had his life planned out. He planned to attend Indiana University and become a coach.

"He was a good man," Wallace said. "I was his platoon leader. I was responsible for him. He was loyal, he was brave to a fault. He always volunteered for the toughest mission. He always had a smile, always joking...He always took the toughest job, not because he was going to be a career NCO, but he was an American and he was proud to be an American. And he was proud of what he was doing."

Wallace said he had good eyesight and could sense where the enemy would be.

"When we talk about our troops being in combat and we talk about how everything is going and we only lost one or we only lost two, maybe you can see today the pain of losing that one," he said.

Wallace added Americans enjoy freedom because of men like Franks.

"We should always remember there is a cost to going to war and we need to be very careful when we go to war," he said. "I'm a strong believer in civilian control over the military. You'll find that military men and women are the last ones that want us to go to war because we know the consequences. When we decide to go to war, we need the nation to decide to go. That's not something that we should do on a whim. We need the nation to be behind the military when we do that."

Wallace said he has been shaped by his experiences in the military.

"I learned that mission comes first in the military, that you have to accept losses sometimes to get things done," he said. "The mission always come first. Maybe the most important thing that I've learned, you never give up. If you get knocked down, you get back up."

mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com