060826 SgtMcIntosh JoshuaKodis 001 — Sgt. Sylvester McIntosh PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS

Discipline, values and love for the country were some of the lessons already instilled in Sgt. Sylvester McIntosh as he fought alongside his fellow marines in the jungles of Vietnam.

Sgt. Sylvester McIntosh PHOTO PROVIDED

“I never considered myself a hero,” 79-year-old McIntosh, a Wabasso native, says some six decades after the peak of the Vietnam War and as the nation he fought for prepares to celebrate its 250th Independence Day. “I was just doing a job.”

While in battle, soldiers in the Viet Cong threw grenades inside the trenches where the American marines were lying low during a search and destroy mission. McIntosh bravely threw himself on top of the grenades each time, which were faulty and failed to explode.

“It was three days in a row in different places. Each day a grenade was thrown into the hole. I jumped on the grenades to save my buddy that was in the hole with me,” McIntosh said.

In those hellish, miserable moments, it was not just about fighting for the red, white and blue, but saving lives.

“You’re trained to save your buddies when you go to boot camp. I’ll rather have my life taken than have their life taken,” he said of his time and what would become one of the costliest wars in American history.

Another time, a bullet ripped through McIntosh’s chest. Bleeding from the enemy fire, he ignored the pain and ran back into the kill zone to save three wounded marines. Because of that action, McIntosh earned the Silver Star Medal, the military’s third-highest decoration for valor in combat.

He was also awarded the prestigious Purple Heart Medal, given to soldiers wounded or killed from enemy fire.

“(The bullet) didn’t hit me directly. It bruised my lungs and came out under my arm pit,” McIntosh said of the moment.

McIntosh served in 10 major battles while deployed in Vietnam from 1965 to 1968 – as the prolonged military operation hit its gruesome peak. He was drafted out of high school and fought as part of the 1st Battalion 9th Marines Alpha Company, nicknamed “The Walking Dead.” The war-weary battalion endured the longest sustained combat and highest killed-in-action casualty rate in Marine Corps history.

The decorated marine also traveled to different parts of the world – Hawaii, Japan, Philippines and Taiwan – during military stops on the way to Vietnam, a war in which 50,000 other young Americans would lose their lives.

Street Dedication

Fast forward to the present.

McIntosh’s bravery along with his local service and community impact, led Indian River County Commissioners to dedicate 86th Lane in Wabasso in honor of the decorated marine. His family and friends, along with county officials and military veterans, gathered May 30 – nearly a week after Memorial Day – for the street unveiling ceremony held at Wabasso Church of God.

The church is located a short walk just down the street from McIntosh’s home.

“I’m humbled because I work in this community and everyone knows me,” McIntosh said, weeks from readying to mark the July 4th holiday. “Normally, you get a street named after you when you’re dead. To get it while I’m living, it’s leaving a legacy for my family.”

Wabasso Roots

Wabasso, an unincorporated town with a population just under 1,900 residents, was a thriving community in the 1950s.

The town had more than a dozen churches, several restaurants, grocery stores, juke joints and even a movie theatre. There were, of course, huge swaths of citrus farms.

“It was a booming place because people would leave bigger places to come here,” McIntosh said.

Sgt. Sylvester McIntosh PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS

McIntosh, whose family originated from the Bahamas, was born in 1947 in a boarding house on 86th Lane in Wabasso. McIntosh said Black women weren’t allowed to give birth at hospitals because of Jim Crow segregation laws that ruled Florida.

“Midwives helped bring (children) into the world,” McIntosh said.

McIntosh, who grew up in the “separate but equal” Jim Crow-era, recalled being a young boy walking through Winter Beach and seeing the Ku Klux Klan comfortably having rallies in a big empty lot.

“We’d come through, they’d have their hoods on and burn crosses,” McIntosh said of the harrowing sight in the small rural community.

McIntosh attended Gifford High School, where he developed a love for math and reading. He also played different positions on the football team including running back and noseguard.

McIntosh graduated from Gifford High in June 1965 and was deployed into the marines three months later. He would then fight for America, battling against the spread of communism in the Asian nation.

“I promised (my parents) I would get an education and would do it my way. I went into the marine corps and when I came out I didn’t have to depend on my parents,” McIntosh said. “I was my own grown man. I was able to get married later on when I got back from Vietnam.”

Calling into ministry

The Wabasso church became a second home for the combat-worn veteran. The Bible – not the bullets of the battlefield – aided him as he served in different roles including as a youth pastor and later a minister and evangelist.

Sgt. Sylvester McIntosh PHOTO PROVIDED

The boarding house where McIntosh’s mother lived was leveled into a parking lot for the Wabasso Church of God. At age 16, the teen joined the Wabasso church where he would receive training that would carve his life’s path in his later years.

After being honorably discharged from the military in 1968 – a year of assassinations, riots and civil strife across the nation – McIntosh would go on to earn several degrees, including a doctorate in religious education from an evangelical seminary in Green Acres. Despite the lingering troubles haunting America, the war veteran kept his eyes fixed on the message of God’s peace.

McIntosh pastored at different Church of God branches in Jensen Beach, Riviera Beach and Fort Pierce. He also served as a professor with the Jacksonville Theological Seminary, where he taught at six different satellite schools across the state.

McIntosh retired as a pastor after 35 years.

“I still do evangelism work outside of the continental U.S. or wherever I need to go,” McIntosh said. “I do ministry at churches in Africa and in the Caribbean.”

Community Involvement

Civic engagement also sparked McIntosh’s interests. McIntosh, a former longtime vice-president of the Wabasso Civic League, said he helped get $1.5 million in funding to get lights and clean water in the small, rural-suburban town.

McIntosh was also part of several boards including the Gifford Youth Achievement Center. He served as chaplain for the 12 District American Post Legion which includes posts in Indian River County.

He is a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America Vero Beach chapter, The 19th Judicial Circuit Veterans Treatment Court, the Marine Corps League in Vero Beach South and the Veterans of Foreign Wars group in Sebastian.

Love and faith

McIntosh married his high school sweetheart, Dorothy McIntosh, after returning from Vietnam. The couple will be celebrating their 59-year anniversary in December. McIntosh remains one of the fortunate ones who recovered from the war and resettled into a life woven through with patriotism, community and love.

The McIntoshs have four children, nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. McIntosh said he enjoys fishing and spending quality time with his family.

With his active involvement in uplifting the community, McIntosh made sure to keep his personal priorities in order.

Dorothy McIntosh with Sgt. Sylvester McIntosh PHOTO PROVIDED

“I had certain goals I wanted to achieve. I wanted my house paid off. I wanted my college education,” McIntosh said. “I was able to retire at age 58.”

McIntosh still falls into his calling as a minister, spreading philosophical messages from the Bible at any location wherever he is sent. The veteran said he doesn’t have a favorite scripture and that Bible verses are stamped in his head.

“I don’t try to remember scriptures. I never wrote out a sermon in my life,” McIntosh said. “I pray about it, read the Bible and God puts it in my head. I have to depend on God. It’s not me depending on myself.”