3 A TRIBUTE TO VETERANS November 11, 2014

Publisher

Vincent Laboy

Managing Editor

Justin Joiner

Advertising Director

Dennis Anderson

Circulation Manager

Steffanie Gooden

Contributors

Katharhynn Heidelberg

Justin Joiner

Jake Linger

Nathan Meacham

Drew Setterholm

Jason Wheeler

INSIDE THIS SECTIONVeteran had ‘write’

stuff for KoreaRobert Said wrote hundreds of stories during his time in Korea

Navy honors local manThe vessel on which a Montrose

man served was honored

Three tours, lifetimes of experience

Olathe teacher able to use military knowledge in teaching

Still on patrolArmy veteran uses experience to make a career in law enforcement

Many events lined up for holiday

Schools, military service organizations offer several events

Technician to entertainment

Korean War veteran shares stories of time abroad

By Dennis Anderson Daily Press Advertising Director

We all have people who have made an impact on our lives as we travel our life’s journey. One man for me has been my father-in-law, Vernon Nutter. Vernon

is not a leader by his words, but by his actions. My wife, Melissa and I have been married

for 28 years and for many of those years, I watched him drive from his home in Delta to the Cameo mine just outside of Palisade to work rotating shifts at the mine. In what little spare time he had, he also worked a pretty good-sized farm that included cattle. It was incredible to see him work on very little sleep and no days off. He didn’t take vacations, but if my wife or her sisters needed him, they knew they could count on him. I often wondered what shaped his work ethic. Was it working on the family farm in Delta as a boy, or playing high school sports — including the only year Delta ever won a state football cham-pionship — or perhaps it was his time in the US Army? I’m sure, it’s all of the above.

He served our country from 1964 to 1967, which was a time of change in our country. Our presence in Vietnam was at the early stages and the civil rights movement was beginning to make head way. A member of the infantry, he did his basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas and then his advanced training at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

He was a hold over at Fort Polk before re-ceiving his orders to report to Fort Myer, Virginia. He had no idea what the assignment meant until he arrived. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division, otherwise known as the “Old Guard” or “Honor Guard.” His duties would include full honor burials at Arlington National Cemetery, the honor wall which is a line of honor guard soldiers that would be presented to dignitaries who arrived at the White House for official visits. Golda Meir, the prime minister of Israel, at the time would visit quite often. “The Secret Service were just normal guys.” He fondly remembered. “Un-

less President Johnson showed up, then they were all business and no one was allowed to speak.”

He also presented the Colors at various events, and marched in parades. “There was a lot of guard duty, I mean a lot.” “Sometimes there would be riots in Washington D.C. and we would patrol in the city. We weren’t al-lowed to have our weapons loaded. We had to keep our ammo in our pockets.” He never had to use his weapon, just tear gas from time to time. He speaks of this time as just something the Army assigned him to do. He speaks of it with such humility that you would not think that it was prestigious honor to serve in this unit but it is. You have to be a soldier’s soldier to be a part of this unit. You have to have such

attention to detail. He rode with me to my own father’s grave

side service a couple of years ago. My father’s ashes were laid to rest with full honors at the Grand Junction Veteran’s Cemetery. I remem-ber having the folded flag sitting between us in the front seat of my truck. He picked it up and said, “You know, this isn’t right.” “The stars here, as he pointed to where the flag folds into the flap to keep it together, they have to be straight. We would have been gigged for this.” At the service, the emotion on his face told me what my Dad meant to him as a man and as a soldier. I will be forever grateful for everything that Vernon has done for me and for our country.

Thank a soldier today.

Forever grateful for Vernon

4 November 11, 2014 ABOVE AND BEYOND

obert Said sat down and displayed an unopened white box.

“Whenever you interview a veteran, the first thing you should do is establish his bona fides,” advised Said, a Montrose resident and one-time

news correspondent who spent 14 months in the early 1950s covering the Korean War, known to most at that time simply as a conflict.

Per his own suggestion, Said opened the box and dis-played at least 10 ribbons and awards he received dur-ing his four years as a U.S. Marine. Among the military jewelry items was a Bronze Star, awarded to Said for two occasions — participation during a train ambush at Huangshan in Nov. 1950, and later for assistance during a missile strike against a North Korean stronghold.

“Keep in mind that this was not a heroism type (award),” he said. “I believe they called it Meritorious Achievement. Basically, it was for doing a good job.”

Said’s path to Korea began with his birth in Salt Lake City. He studied journalism in high school and he re-ceived a real-life education from his mother, who was a reporter for the Denver Post around 1918. Said’s first by-

line, he remembered, came under the name Bobby Said, because he was still in grade school.

Just a few years later, a 20-year-old Marine who no longer went by Bobby was shipped to Korea to compile hundreds of bylines for newspapers back home in the U.S. He said he spent the majority of his time at mili-tary airports, where the pilots and payloads began their missions, or with infantrymen in the trenches, where he could most accurately report on and photograph air-strikes.

“Those are the only two places a reporter can cover and get good news stories to send home of Marine Close Air Support Activities — either where it takes off or where it lands,” Said explained. “It enabled me to get a good look at both ends of the war and I never had to stay on the front lines for weeks on end like the unfortunate infantry.”

Following his service in Korea, Said was discharged after a four-year career as a Marine, and he set off to attend Yale before spending more than three decades as a writer and editor for publications such as the New York Times and General Dynamics. Attending Yale

VETERAN HAD ‘WRITE’ STUFF FOR KOREA

Courtesy photoU.S. Marines celebrate the Marines’ birthday on Hill No. 812 during the Korean War on Nov. 10, 1951. Montrose resident Robert Said, not shown, was among the Marines fighting in North and South Korea, though he was working as a war correspondent.

By Jake Linger | Special to the Daily Press

Robert Said served 14 months as war correspondent

R

8 November 11, 2014 ABOVE AND BEYOND

lmost like clockwork, Bill Hamm has served three tours overseas with a decade of teach-ing in between them.

Hamm, who has been teaching at Olathe High School for 21 years, started his Nation-al Guard service in 1993. The jobs changed

for his second tour in Kuwait and Iraq in 2003 and even more so for a tour in Bahrain that started in 2012.

It was Operation Just Cause followed by Opera-tion Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Free-dom. Hamm has performed many tasks including rebuilding bridges and schools, guarding entry control points and helping pilots navigate the tall mountains in Afghanistan.

Now Hamm is less than a year from stepping away from his service as he turns 60.

“Then I’ll have to say goodbye and pass the torch

on to the next generation,” he said.His 24-year journey started in the jungles of Pana-

ma after the arrest of Manuel Noriega, who was the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.

Hamm, who was part of the South Dakota Army National Guard at the time, was charged with re-storing part of the country.

“Basically we were there to help rebuild Panama’s infrastructure,” he said.

Hamm helped build schools, clinics and roads from farms to markets.

He even saw one of Noriega’s giant homes, which took land away from the locals.

“It’s the two extremes,” Hamm said. “There weren’t any tears about him being captured from the area that we were in.”

Hamm spent just three months in Panama before returning to South Dakota, where he was teaching

Bill Hamm splits service between country, Olathe students

LIFETIMES OF EXPERIENCE

By Nathan Meacham | Daily Press Staff Writer

A

Courtesy photoBill Hamm was able to tour the HMS Montrose.

“All nine months were spent on mission, time just flew by. We did some really unique tasks for all kinds of special operators,”

Bill Hamm, Olathe teacher, veteran

14 November 11, 2014 ABOVE AND BEYOND

hen most think of veterans from the Kore-an War, the first image that comes to mind is a man in the Army trudging through the terrain. Not many think of the women who served during the war, such as Doro-thy “Bunny” Kingery, who worked on Long Island as a supply technician before going

into entertainment in Europe. Kingery said she enlisted in 1951, noting her mother

gave her a quarter and told her to enlist or get a job. Kingery said she had made up her mind beforehand to go into the service.

“They rushed us through basic,” Kingery said. “They were trying to get us through basic training so we could take the place of the fellas so they could go (to the front).”

Kingery said she went to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver to be instructed in how to be a supply techni-cian. She worked in the field for 22 months out of Mitch-ell Air Force Base in Long Island. But then she decided she wanted to go to the Far East. And the military sent her to Germany.

“I did not know at the time that if you wanted to go to Germany, you put in for Japan and if you want to go to

Japan, you put in for Germany,” Kingery joked. Kingery was in Germany for six months before audi-

tions for a show came about, which she was chosen for. She rehearsed for several months in Stuttgart. She said the show went to Austria, Italy and Germany to all the outposts that were closed to families because of the Iron Curtain. However, the USO had quit and the troops stationed needed some entertainment. When the show’s run had ended, they went back to start a new show, but Kingery met her husband to be. They married and had six children.

Kingery said when she enlisted, she was only 18 and as a teenager, she wasn’t thinking of the future. She did say she had some interesting memories during her time in the service.

“I remember being a little bit scared when we first moved into a barracks in Germany,” she said. “They told us that it used to be where they kept the Germans until they could get them buried.”

She also told about the time she went to Dachau eight or nine years after World War II was over and found it astounding how the amount of death in that area caused the birds to not go near the trees.

But in regards to being a woman in the military dur-

TECHNICIAN TO ENTERTAINMENT

By Jason Wheeler | Daily Press Staff Writer

Dorothy Kingery served in Korean War

Courtesy photoDorothy Kingery performed in a show for the troops.

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