America's Extraordinary

COPPERAS COVE — In 1953, George Gividen was known as the Ranger who could stick his foot in a tub of rattlesnakes and not be harmed. But he was no snake charmer.

For a year, he trained future Army Rangers at Fort Benning, Ga. Sticking his leg in a tub filled with snakes was not his only teaching tool. He would also show soldiers his method for ensuring his Army-issued socks would never fall down. He would push a pin through his leg.

Captivating the attention of the soldiers in training, Gividen would then say, “That’s what it takes to make a Ranger.”

Of course, there was a trick to Gividen’s lessons. He had lost his left leg during combat in the Korean War. At the age of 24, Gividen had already graduated from West Point and earned a Purple Heart.

Almost six years after his death, Gividen was chosen to be inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame for his dedicated service to the military. The honor confirmed that he had what it took to make a memorable Army Ranger.

Gividen, a Korean war veteran formerly of Copperas Cove, will be posthumuously inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame on July 8. Created in 1992, the Ranger Hall of Fame was formed to honor and preserve the spirit and contributions of America’s most extraordinary U.S. Army Rangers. According to the hall’s Web site, inductees’ military and civilian services are heavily scrutinized by a selection board.

Born on April 3, 1929, in Lexington, Ky., Gividen had lived in Copperas Cove since 1971. He died in August of 1998. His widow, Barbara, referred to him as “a little giant.”

Gividen first joined the United States Marine Corps in 1946 before he was chosen to attend West Point. A graduate from West Point in May of 1951, Gividen had classmates that include some current Copperas Cove residents and Buzz Aldrin, the first man to walk on the moon.

In October of 1952 while fighting in the Korean War, Lt. Gividen was wounded three times but still managed to lead his troops to safety without losing a man. As a result of that attack, Gividen lost his left leg and was awarded one of his purple hearts.

Gividen earned more than nine medals while serving in the U.S. Army, including the Award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Soldier’s Medal, a Purple Heart with four oak leaf clusters, a Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster, a WWII Victory Medal, a Korean War Service Medal with Bronze Star and a National Defense Service Medal.

“He was a very religious man. That’s what helped him to survive. People used to call him ‘That Bible-totin’ Lt. Gividen,’” Barbara Gividen said.

Gividen never allowed his handicap keep him down; however, letting him down was another story.  Gividen enjoyed his hobby of free falling from airplanes. Gividen had 357 jumps in his lifetime. Of those, 350 were done on one leg. From 1958 to 1960, Gividen was officer-in-charge of the West Point Sky Diving Team.

Capt. Gividen retired from active service in August of 1960 and retired after 19 years from Fort Hood as chief of the Army Research Institute in 1990.

He also served the Cove community as a city council member for four terms:  April 1976 to April 1978, March 1979 to May 1984 and June 1994 to June of 1997.

“He serviced the community in some way everywhere he lived,” said a longtime friend Pete Roberts, of Copperas Cove.

“There wasn’t anything he couldn’t accomplish,” Barbara said. “But he never was able to defeat that damn Parkinson’s Disease.”

Gividen spent the last two years of his life paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair.

Roberts described Gividen as an unknown and silent hero.

“I didn’t know anything about his past (in the military) until one day when George was sleeping, Barbara showed me her red folder,” Roberts said.

Barbara’s red folder is a scrap book of her husband’s Army career. She has nestled in the book pictures of her husband’s days in service as well as newspaper clippings recognizing her husband’s accomplishments. One Killeen Daily Herald article dated from January 1998 called Gividen “The Indestructible Man.”

Roberts had started in January of 2003 to help compile the necessary historic records of Gividen’s time in service and civilian contribution to the Army to submit to the hall of fame’s board. Roberts said it was because of Andy Chacon’s determination to see Gividen added to the hall of fame that the feat was finally completed. Chacon, of Albuquerque, N.M., was a classmate of Gividen’s at West Point. Barbara received the letter of notification for the hall of fame on April 12.

“It’s remarkable that George is just now getting this honor. And it all happened because his classmates were working to get him recognized,” Roberts said.

The judging for acceptance into the hall was conducted from March 28 to April 3.

“April 3, the last day of consideration, George would have been 75 years old,” Barbara said. “I like to think he just made it.”

(Above left) Seated in his wheel chair, George Gividen poses with the man who saved his life in October of 1952. Earnest West of Wartland, Ky., received the Medal of Honor for pulling Lt. Gividen to safety after coming under attack in the Korean War.

(Above right) George Gividen stands tall in his dress Army uniform after losing his left leg when his troop came under attack during the Korean War in October of 1952. Gividen was awarded one of his Purple Hearts for his courage under fire.

Barbara Gividen (above left) looks through her red folder, which is a scrapbook of her husband's Army career. She has nestled in the book pictures of her husband's days in services as well as newspaper clippings recognizing her husband's accomplishments.

George Gividen, (above right) with one leg, performs a 60-second delayed opening free fall parachute jump from a 12,500-foot altitude. Gividen, who will be honored as a member of the Ranger Hall of Fame in July, served as the Officer-In-Charge for the West Point Sky Diving Team from 1958 to 1960.

Contact Jennifer Clampet at jclampet@kdhnews.com or a t254- 547-0428.