Another Special Life in Christ

These testimony lives are not stories of "role models". Jesus is the role model!
These are lives wonderfully touched & changed by Jesus!

Clebe McClary:

I first heard of Patrick Cleburne "Clebe" McClary (of Florence, S. C.) in about 1988 when a friend loaned me a video of Clebe's testimony. Seeing and hearing that video made me eventually want to collect testimonies. As the internet came into being, I wanted to post an expanding collection of true testimonies "on line".

Since 1972,  McClary has spoken in all 50 states and 30 countries, telling groups as diverse as corporations and military personnel how The Lord worked through and in him to turn tragedy into triumph. Some examples of the groups he has spoken to are Motorola, the Dallas Cowboys and military personnel at Camp LeJeune and Maxwell Air Force Base.

McClary, a highly-decorated Vietnam veteran, had his life changed forever by one battle. Shortly after midnight March 3, 1968, McClary and his unit were under enemy attack. He lost his left arm in the initial attack but kept fighting. As the battle wore on a grenade tore out his left eye and burst both his ear drums. Another grenade shredded his legs.

Over the next two and a half years, McClary underwent 34 major surgeries and endured countless hours of rehabilitation. Told he would never walk again, McClary has done that and more. He has run in marathons and holds the record for the Balke treadmill test at the renowned Cooper’s Clinic in Dallas. That same record has been attempted and missed by members of the Dallas Cowboys football team!

McClary has garnered numerous awards and accolades over the years. He earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. He received the General Omar Bradley Spirit of Independence Award, in honor of all Vietnam Veterans, the George Washington Medal of Freedom and the Eisenhower People to People Award, just to name a few. He was presented with the Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor a civilian can receive from the state of South Carolina, by Governor David Beasley.

McClary has authored "Living Proof" and is the subject of the documentary, Portrait of an American Hero.

2014 update: Clebe at the 2014 Matsers in Augusta! Now residing in the Pawleys Island, south of Myrtle Beach, S. C., Clebe had an amazing experience at the 2014 Masters golf tournament. Some time earlier, Clebe had asked a friend, golfer Jay Haas if he knew famous golf champion, Billy Casper and told Billy what had happened very shortly after his injury 46 years ago [abstracted from an email]:

"On any day, Casper is a wonderful story, a righteous man with a keen sense of human kindness. But on this cool, breezy Masters day, his story was even more wonderful thanks to a reunion with McClary, who told everyone how Casper had saved his life."

"It was 1968, the height of the Vietnam War, and Casper, in the prime of his golf career, was off to Japan to play some offseason tournaments. While he was there, did he want to visit some wounded American troops, who had been convalescing from Vietnam? Casper said yes, because, well, that's his warm-hearted nature. 'I was recently asked by a man what I want to be remembered for,” Casper said. “I told him, ‘I want to be remembered for how I loved my fellow man.’"

"That day at a hospital in Japan may have shown Casper at his warmest because when he looked over at a bed and saw a young man who had been wounded to a point where he could barely be recognized, the golfer moved closer. A doctor told him not to bother, that Marine 1st Lt. Patrick Cleburne "Clebe" McClary 'was ready to die,' said Casper, but something made him approach the man. 'I will never forget that day,' said McClary, who on March 3, 1968 had been wounded during his 19th reconnaissance mission in Vietnam. McClary lost his left arm and his left eye and laid in that bed that day thinking one thing. 'I’d given up,' he said. 'I wanted to die, and I’d have died right there if not for him.'”

When the two met at the Masters, here is the description: Clebe got Billy in a bear hug of gratitude. "Billy Casper leaned in and whispered, 'Don’t let go till you want to let go.' So right there in front of dozens of patrons, in the shadow of the iconic oak tree behind the Augusta National clubhouse, McClary and Casper hugged . . . and hugged . . . and hugged."<br><br>“'We hugged for five minutes,' said Casper, who choked back tears. But McClary? He didn’t even try to hold 'em back. He cried like a baby, which was not so conspicuous because as the scene played out, so, too, did the emotions of so many others let loose.'We all just cried our eyes out,' said Julia Cervantes, one of Casper’s 11 children."

"On any day, Casper is a wonderful story, a righteous man with a keen sense of human kindness. But on this cool, breezy Masters day, his story was even more wonderful thanks to a reunion with McClary, who told everyone how Casper had saved his life." Clebe's website, HERE. Check this You Tube video (and there are others).

***give me your comments about this page***

(posted about 1997)

***********************************

You have just read a very brief example of the powerful, supernatural transformation of a person's life which is possible through the acceptance of Jesus as your savior. Are you tired of life as it now is for you? He will accept you just as you are right this second! Consider accepting Jesus now [check it out]!