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What these high school football players do for ailing Vietnam vet will make your day

Posted at 1:07 PM, Oct 14, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-14 13:08:21-04

HARRAH, Okla. -- An ailing Vietnam War Hero who spent most of his adult life "paying it forward" is now getting a little payback from high school football players in Oklahoma, KWTV reports.

Jim Yearout received a slew of medals as the platoon leader of a top-secret U.S. Intelligence group during the Vietnam War, but a year ago he had the kind of open heart surgery that could have done him in. Jim is still recovering from surgery, and his wife, Katie, has cancer. In fact, she just finished a second-round of chemotherapy.

Jim and Kim Yearout

Jim and Kim Yearout

The couple faced a dilemma with their house of nearly 40 years, which  is not far from Harrah High School, because neither could mow their lawn anymore.

But when Harrah High School Resource Officer Phil Stewart told Harrah Head Coach Phill Webb about the couple’s problem, Webb asked for volunteers.

Several said they could help, but he picked three sophomores: Clay Goad, Jackson Lemons, and Samuel Dozier.

Clay Goad, Jackson Lemons, and Samuel Dozier

Clay Goad, Jackson Lemons, and Samuel Dozierare helping out the Yearouts.

"My parents said they were grateful to have a kid go out and do this," said one of the students.

"It's another way to plant a seed with your younger group of guys to build a rapport," Phil Webb, Harrah’s head football coach said.

And Yearout is not only a war hero. He was a volunteer football coach for the Harrah Panthers for several years in the early 2000s.

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Jim Yearout thanks the players.

"They really are a good bunch of kids, and.. .if I could, I'd be down on the sidelines right now,” Jim Yearout said. “I think maybe you should just chill out, take it easy… laugh. It's kind of hard to do sometimes."

The Yearouts will be the guests of honor at the Oklahoma U.S. Marine Corps Birthday Ball on Saturday.

medals

Jim Yearout's medals.