"He grew up in Shelby. The Canipe's are from Cleveland Co, NC. He enlisted in the USMC in 1961 and served for 25 years, including 3 tours of duty in Vietnam. He received 2 Purple Hearts. In 1966 he was shot in the head and clinically pronounced dead! The doctors were astonished when he began moaning. In 1970 he was hit in the throat by shrapnel from a booby trap. My father was also in Saigon in 1975 when it fell to the Viet Cong. He was a career Marine."

[by Clem Lee Canipe III, 1 Jul 1998]