Daniel 'Duke' Heller was born to be a marine.
"I know when I left for boot camp in '68, my dad said, 'You'll never make that. You'll be home in a week,'" Heller said.
He'd prove his dad wrong.
"I was determined," Heller said.
He fought for 13 months and eight days in the Vietnam War.
"Here I am, I'm 19 years old, and I'm, you know, saying who lives and who dies. I thought, 'Man,' you know, 'I think somebody else should be doing this,'" Heller said.
At just 19 years old, Heller was in charge of a squad of guys that became like brothers.
"We don't have a dozen, but we have a few of us," Heller said. "We're always dirty, so how about being the filthy few," Heller said. "They tell you to not get close to anybody because of death, but it's hard."
That bond helped Heller fight for his life and the lives of his men trapped in a North Vietnamese army ambush in the A Shau Valley.
"I had to run through the gunfire to get them," Heller said of his fellow Marines. "I threw him over my shoulder. I'll try to get back up the hill. I was in the middle of a crossfire I could hear the rounds whizzing by me."
Heller saved the lives of four Marines that day.
Fifty-five years later, he was honored for that service with a Navy Cross presented in August 2024.
"The Marine Corps band was playing. I thought, 'Wow, man, that's what I became a Marine for,'" Heller said. "I didn't expect none of this."
Through it all, Heller's camaraderie with his fellow Marines is what he's most grateful for.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything," Heller said.
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