Where did you serve and what did you do?
Vietnam. I was in Avionics fixing radios and controls in UH- 1 Helicopters for the 192nd Assault Helicopter C. near a little fishing village called Phan Thiet, Vietnam.
How are you #StillServing?
I have been a member of VFW Post 6705 for 48 years. I was Commander from 1989 to 1991. I am now “All-State” Quartermaster four years in a row, and also All-American Quartermaster last year for the first time.
We charter the boy scout troop 4042 of Denmark. We created a volunteer program with Unity Hospice, where veterans like me go visit veterans in their last six months of life. I do speeches at Denmark — elementary, middle and high school — on Vietnam and our flag “Old Glory. ”
I do speeches on the “Vietnam Wall”. We also honor and remember our fallen ones at 8 cemeteries around the Denmark area where I am the Color Guard Commander.
I also belong to 5 other veterans organizations: American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America, Wounded Warriors in Action Foundation, Military Of Purple Heart, and the Military Order of the Cooties which our motto is, “We keep them smiling in their beds of white.” I also mentor a young boy at the Denmark Middle School through the Big Brothers and Sisters program.
Why do you do it?
I love life, and life is all about giving back to your community, country, and fellow veterans. It’s not what you have in life that counts, it’s what you give back in life that counts. You make a living by what you get in life, but you make a “life” by what you give!!!