The San Marino community gave a warm welcome to one of its own, Sgt. Oliver Campbell of the 75th Ranger Regiment, 2nd Battalion, during a luncheon hosted by the Rotary Club of San Marino on Dec. 29.
The returning San Marino High School class of 2011 graduate received with open arms.
The Titans football team’s top defensive player was described as humble, courageous and confident by all who spoke of him at the luncheon.
Mayor Richard Sun welcomed Campbell with an offer to have his name etched into San Marino’s veteran walk, which curves around the war memorial at Lacy Park.
“We would like to add your name to the memorial walk so your name will be with all the heroes together,” Sun told Campbell.
School Board President Joseph Chang also presented Campbell with a certificate.
“You are a role model for all of our alumni,” Chang said, calling the luncheon the most meaningful event of 2016.
Susan Luehrs, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo Southern California Region, explained the story behind Campbell’s selection to ride on the Wells Fargo Coach during the Rose Parade, which was held on Jan. 2.
“Tim [Sloan] and Oliver’s son went to San Marino High School together and played football together and the families have stayed in touch over the years,” she said.
Sloan, a resident of San Marino, is the CEO and President of Wells Fargo. Oliver Campbell, Sr., Sgt. Campbell’s father, is a senior investment strategist for the Southern Pacific region of Wells Fargo Private Bank.
“When someone is hurt in one of our ranks, no matter who you are or what your level is, we all come together as a company, as a team and as humans and really try to support them,” Luehrs added, wishing Campbell well in his future endeavors.
Campbell’s high school counselor Laura Ives recalled the results of a personality test that Campbell completed in high school.
“Interestingly, one of the areas that came up very strongly was military and protective services,” Ives said, stating that Campbell, fondly known as “Ollie,” is an inspiration for his strong spirit, courage and selflessness.
“He never wavered on his commitment even though I expressed some more safe paths he should try,” she added. “But he definitely convinced me that he needed to follow his heart and he had to give back to his country.”
Mollie Beckler, another SMHS counselor, also addressed the assemblage at San Marino Community Church. Beckler’s son, Christian, played Titan football with Campbell and her daughter was Campbell’s classmate.
Beckler remembered the night she spoke to both her children about Campbell, who was shot five times in late 2015 in a firefight in Afghanistan.
“Ollie got shot, he’s in surgery, we think he’s on an airplane. That was it. That’s all we know,” she recalled. “Both calls with both my kids that night were ‘no matter how bad it is, it’s Ollie and if anyone can survive this it will be Ollie.’ Both of my kids said that to me independent of each other that night. It was amazing to me to watch San Marino become the village that gathers around its own,” noted Beckler, whose son, like Campbell, was stationed at Ft. Lewis in Washington State.
“If anyone asked me to describe Oliver Campbell in one word it would be ‘Humble’ with a capital ‘H,’” she stated. “As tough as a Ranger is, the Rangers I know are the most humble people in the world”
“I think he would like to not be sitting at the table right here, right now. You are, so deal with it, dude” Beckler said as the audience laughed.
She concluded, “You are an example, you are such an amazing human being and the world is such a better place because you are still in it.”
Fellow football teammate Seve Woods called Campbell the “cornerstone of our defense,” recalling that “[Ollie] didn’t really talk much, so he let his hitting do most of the talking.”
“As I was a free safety at only 165 pounds it was always reassuring knowing Ollie, with his six-foot, 215-pound frame, was there to blow up the run game,” he said, receiving laughter from the crowd.
Woods’ brother, Ole Woods, is a Marine.
“Ole enlisted out of high school in large part because of Ollie,” Seve Woods said. “I will always fondly remember my mom coming up to me after each and every game raving about how many times she heard from Mitch Lehman Ole’s name being called. I had to remind her that ‘no,’ it was not Ole whose name is being called, it is, in fact, Ollie.”
Seve Woods read a letter written by his Ole and addressed to Campbell.
“For as long as I have known you, I have looked up to you. Whether it was in sports or in the military, I saw you as an inspiration,” Ole Woods wrote.
Classmate Mark Chen, currently residing in Seattle, told of a time two months after Campbell had returned to Ft. Lewis for recovery.
“I remember getting a message from Ollie a couple of days later. He had seen my post [about a community service opportunity] and he was reaching out to me to say that he wanted to come and volunteer and help out,” Chen said. “I just thought it was incredible, after what had happened, that Ollie was reaching out to me to drive an hour out to Seattle to help out,” he added, calling it a testament to Campbell’s character.
Campbell, Sr. introduced Ollie, noting that his son is the type of person who “leaves it all on the field.”
“In my short notes to prepare for this little talk, I said ‘for those who don’t know Ollie,’ so I need to strike that portion. He seems to be one of the best known people in town,” he opened to the audience’s laughter.
“When I got a call from his Colonel on Jan. 20th that he’d been wounded in action and was stabilized in Bagram [Airfield] and the medical team was pumping him full of blood, it was probably the most frightening moment of my life, thinking he might…he might be lost to us,” he said, overcome with emotion. “Ollie is humble. He simply wants to perform to the best of his abilities and if observers marvel at what he does on life’s stage, so be it. But clearing the bar he sets for himself is his motivation,” Campbell, Sr. added, welcoming his son to the podium with a hug.
In what appeared to be typical Ollie humor, Campbell started, “Mrs. Ives, that test got me shot.”
“Just kidding,” he followed, through a roar of audience laughter.
“I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who had a part in organizing this event and everyone who came out. Thank you to this community for following my story and caring about my recovery and well-being. Thank you to my family for supporting me throughout my Army career even though you didn’t know it was starting when I began it. And thank you to the men of 2nd Battalion for raising me as a man,” Campbell began.
“I’m not one to look for a spotlight to stand in. I don’t ask for any praise for what I’ve done. My only intention when joining the Army was to do a very small part in giving back to a country that provides every single one of us with so much, whether we realize it or not, and I think many of us, myself included, take it for granted much of the time,” he continued.
The theme of Campbell’s brief speech was resilience in the face of adversity.
“After being shot five times in a remote part of Afghanistan while massively bleeding into my chest cavity for about half an hour, to get to the medivac helicopter with some sort of chance of survival, I had one choice -and that was to get up and walk, from where the stretcher broke, that was supposed to carry me to the helicopter. And so that’s what I did,” Campbell explained. “With two collapsing lungs and while coughing up blood, I managed to stumble 200 meters to this helicopter thinking, ‘man, this is the part in the movie where the guy dies,’” he said, laughing.
“The moral of the story is, we are all stronger and more resilient than we know,” he said to the applause of the audience. “If I impart anything to you all it would be that everyone has their own battles to fight, whether it shows on the outside or not. And what I say to that again is we are all stronger than we know.”
Campbell informed the audience that he plans to travel to South Africa, Namibia and throughout Europe over the next year. Afterward, he intends to attend Santa Monica College to begin a track towards medical school.
