“After 12 weeks of intensive training at Ft. Benning he was sent to Vietnam in 1969, where he received his first Purple Heart after he and his battalion were ambushed. Sgt. Toney is a recipient of two bronze stars, as well as other honors. He is a board member of the Woodring Wall of Honor and Veterans Park at Enid, is a Purple Heart Ambassador, and currently resides on one of the first Centennial Farms in Oklahoma.”

That was the introduction at Oklahoma State University’s football game last Saturday that Hennessey’s Jack Toney won’t forget anytime soon.

It’s also when Sgt. Toney was announced as a “Bob Moore Hometown Hero” during the game against Iowa State.

Deserving “heroes” are nominated for the honor and those selected are recognized at Cowboys’ home sporting events.

Toney served in the 1st Air Cavalry 2nd Battalion, 7th Division, from 1969-70 in Vietnam.

He earned three Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars, two Army commendations and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with a Silver Star and an air medal for completing 25 combat assaults in a year. His unit was part of the infantry dropped in the middle of the enemy forces.

The 1st Cavalry Division is a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army.

They distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against hostile forces.

During Vietnam, the Task Force mounted numerous combat assaults into enemy-held territory, according to reports back then.

“The bamboo was so thick you could be 10 feet from someone and not see them,” he was quoted in Hennessey Clipper news accounts about his experience. “It was five or six clicks from the Cambodian border near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, used by the North Vietnamese Army to transport military supplies.”

First Purple Heart

Toney received his first

Purple Heart after a battle “when 130 infantry and 55 artillery guys were surrounded by a much larger enemy force...and 66 men were lost that day,” according to Army reports.

Toney received his first Purple Heart for that battle, during which he was wounded in the shoulder and was “patched up and returned to duty.”

He was promoted from an E-1 to an E-6 in six months and earned two Bronze Stars, two Army commendation medals and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with a Silver Star.

In June 2023, Toney was presented with a Quilt of Valor during a ceremony at the ML Becker Educational Center in Enid.

Also that month, a Quilt of Honor ceremony for a Vietnam veteran was presented to Toney at the Woodring Wall of Honor and Veterans Park Inc. in Enid. He was also named Army Veteran of the Year in 2019.

About Jack Before and After the Army

Before Larry Jack Toney became Sgt. Jack Toney, he graduated from Kremlin High School.

When he returned from the service, he started his own welding business and ran it for many years. He later became a welding inspector for Dow Chemical and traveled all over the world. “He has always remained faithful to the men he served with, and those that served behind him,” said one of his friends. “And he commissioned a field memorial statue which was placed in several veterans parks such as in Creed and Gunnison, Colo.” His parents, the late Geneva and Stan Maly, lived in Bison and Toney now lives on his family’s Maly Centennial Farm northeast of Hennessey. Toney is a former president of both the Hennessey and Dover Roundup Clubs and worked on Pat Hennessey Celebration Committees in the1980s. He also continues serving his country with support of veteran organizations and Toney has also donated his time to maintaining a four-acre veterans park at the Crescent VFW. He is also a volunteer at the Woodring Wall of Honor in Enid.