Not exactly an electric start for Raymond McCloud

Draped in his Quilt of Valor Saturday, Raymond McCloud heads back to his seat.

Banner Graphic/Eric Bernsee

Introducing Army veteran Raymond McCloud Saturday, Quilts of Valor emcee Tim Tillotson said “you couldn’t ask for a better veteran in Putnam County.”

McCloud, now a 30-year member of the Putnam County Fair Board, was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1971 at the height of the Vietnam War.

He was assigned to Ft. Knox, Ky., where one of his first duties was on KP (or kitchen police) where popular myth would have us believing mountains of potatoes are peeled.

It was there, Tillotson said in sharing McCloud’s story, that the private met the mess hall sergeant.

“Private, where’s my coffee?” he barked to McCloud, who failed to respond with the proper “Yes, Sir.”

“I don’t know,” came his answer, “where is it?”

The sergeant assured McCloud that the next time he came in and his coffee wasn’t ready, the private would find himself up on the roof, cleaning it with a toothbrush.

“Hey, Sarge,” McCloud supposedly responded, “I’m just here for two years. I’ll do whatever you want.”

So the next time the sergeant returned, McCloud indeed found himself up on the mess hall roof, toothbrush in hand as the sergeant sat, peacefully drinking coffee.

So was that a true story?

From the comments of McCloud, who resides in Roachdale and operates McCloud Electric Service these days, you’d certainly think so.

“Feburary 1971 I thought my life was over,” McCloud said. “But it ended up the best thing that happened to me.”

For in Korea, he met his wife of now 47 years.

But the roof story?

“It was cold that day up on that roof,” he deadpanned as the audience at Lifespring Church laughed along with him.