Honor Our Veterans 2022 - Special Section

HONORING OUR VETERANS

Three bullets on the nightstand

By Kirk Rogers

According to the US Department of Defense, the week of May 5 to May 12, 1968, was the deadliest week for the US armed forces in the entire Vietnam War. Within that week 562 service members were killed. Thousands more were wounded. That same month was also the deadliest month of the conflict.

Likewise, 1968 was the deadliest year.

If a bullseye had been placed upon the American presence in Vietnam, it might well have hovered over that same week of that month of that year.

On May 5, 1968, at the beginning of that costliest of seven days, Garry Handrich, then twenty two years old and a farmer's son from Fairview, Michigan, was less than a year in uniform, and but six months on Vietnamese soil.

Garry drove a truck for A Company's 124th Transportation Battalion. On this day he was to drive in a convoy leaving Pleiku and deliver supplies to Kon Tum and Dak To. As usual, Garry would haul

artillery shells to be fired by the big guns farther inland and at higher elevation. It was a day-long round trip that he had made a number of times over the winding roads. Never had he been ambushed.

On this day that would change. And it would occur twice.

Boot camp

A year earlier, in 1967, Garry knew if he waited to be drafted into the military, he would not get the job he desired. Aspiring to be an Army driver, on May 23, 1967, he enlisted in the Army and was taken to Fort Knox, Kentucky for eight weeks of basic training.

“It was more for getting us in shape,” Gary said. “There was a lot of marching and hiking. We spent a lot of time on the rifle range.

“You learned to eat fast. A whole group of men would walk into the mess hall and in fifteen minutes the next group would arrive. When the next group came in you left the hall whether you were finished or not.”

After boot camp Garry entered another lengthy training course at

Fort Dix, New Jersey, for Truck Driving School. Then on Nov. 4, Garry boarded a commercial flight in Seattle and headed to war. He enjoyed a brief moment of relief when he saw his assignment was

listed as Okinawa. That was shortlived, however, when a few hours later a final flight lifted him out of Japan and deposited the young

Gary Handrich holds the purple heart he received.

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soldier at Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam.

After a few days of orientation in that port city, Garry hopped on an inland convoy toward what would become his primary base in Pleiku.

“I knew going in that Vietnam was a serious place. But on that first trip to Pleiku I heard machine gun fire. That’s when I knew it was real.”

Pleiku was a major supply hub deep inland, some eighty miles from the Pacific and only thirty short of the Cambodian border. Convoys entered and exited Pleiku on an almost daily basis.

It would be some weeks before Garry drove a semi within a convoy. Initially Garry drove gun trucks.

The first US convoys in Vietnam quickly learned it was dangerous work. Ambushes flared along the winding roads and then quickly melted back into the forest. Convoys made easy targets.

Inventive soldiers began modifying trucks to accompany the convoys and return fire if attacked. While these first gun trucks were rather crude and reinforced with such items as tires and sandbags, later iterations were better armed and better fortified. Garry’s Battalion had two of these later trucks, fondly named Smoke I and Smoke II, which he regularly drove. These gun trucks were surrounded by boxes of ¼” steel that housed four men; a machine gunner with an M-60, two loaders, and one manning a Quad 50.

Garry soon graduated from gun

trucks to semis.

Incoming supplies reached Pleiku from Qui Nhon by way of “Ambush Alley.” Many of these supplies stayed on the base, but many were staged there to be moved farther inland along roads perhaps not as notorious as Ambush Alley, but roads just as dangerous.

Garry had hauled many cargoes both to and from Pleiku, but most recently his loads were artillery shells from Pleiku, taken north through Kon Tum, and then farther north and west to Dak To, where three 8” guns were stationed. Dak To was less than 20 miles from where the borders of South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos met.

An uneventful trip from Pleiku to Dak To would take half a day. A driver could eat a quick lunch in the mess hall before making the return trip.

Meals in the mess at Dak To were not enjoyed in a relaxing environment.

“It happened every time I was there. I’d get a bite up to my mouth and one of those guns would fire off a shot. I’d nearly bite my fork off.”

Ambush

This trip would not be uneventful.

On the road toward Kon Tum from Pleiku, enemy fire erupted from the tree line and the convoy drivers did as they had been trained. Each truck veered off the road at an angle to the trees, first one to the right, the next to the left, and so on, positioning

Pictured are American soldiers in Vietnam on what appears to be a repurposed turret holding four, Browning "MA Duece", .50 caliber firearms.

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their trucks for cover while keeping enough distance that well placed ordnance could not inflict multiple casualties.

Once stopped, drivers jumped out of their vehicles to take up positions behind sand berms. A fuel tanker veered off a short distance behind Garry. The driver exited the vehicle and was blown off his feet when an RPG slammed into the truck.

After the ambush ended the convoy regrouped, with the inoperable trucks left behind and the drivers of those trucks, now with no vehicles of their own, doubling up in vehicles that could resume the trip. The driver of the destroyed tanker, thankfully uninjured, ended up with Garry.

A few miles down the road, not yet to Kon Tum, the convoy was again ambushed.

As before, the trucks angled off the road. Garry stopped his truck, opened his door, and felt a burning in his left side.

“It really didn’t hurt that bad. It felt like a bee sting. I yelled out ‘I’m hit! I’m hit!’”

“I pulled the door shut but my leg was numb.”

Garry half pushed and was half dragged backwards by the second occupant, out of the passenger door, shoulders first, and away from direct gunfire.

Then on the ground with one leg useless and unfeeling, he was further pulled behind a berm to protect him from continuing gunfire. He still lay a quarter mile from any area where a medivac helicopter might safely land.

Garry ripped off his shirt and did his best to stem the bleeding by pressing it to his left side just beneath the rib cage. It was surprising and scary. He knew he had been hit, but it wasn’t until he was on the ground and trying to administer his own first aid that he discovered the extent of his wounds.

Then he waited, gunfire overhead, bleeding, and no medics on the ground.

Finally, the firing stopped and an Armored Personnel Carrier from a nearby engineering team arrived. Garry was placed inside the vehicle and taken to where the medivac chopper had landed. Unable to walk, Garry was carried to and roughly deposited among the others injured on the hard floor.

“I ended up laying between the front seats of the chopper.”

Shortly thereafter, aloft and headed to the Army hospital some fifteen minutes away, he lost consciousness.

He awoke again when the chopper landed.

“I was on a stretcher and being wheeled inside. They asked me if

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Continued from page 1B

I was getting sleepy. I woke up a couple of days later.”

“I spoke with the doctor after I was awake. He told me he left three bullets on the nightstand. They were gone by the time I woke up. I have no idea what happened to them.”

Recovery

After a few days in Pleiku, Garry spent a week recovering in Cam Ranh Bay. Shortly thereafter he was on a C-130 to the states and finally landed in Minot, North Dakota, for a lengthy recovery and rehabilitation.

It wasn’t until he reached Minot that he was finally able to talk to his father by telephone. The family had been informed of Garry’s wounds but little else.

“Dad told me that he was afraid he’d never see me again.”

Having almost fully recovered but for wearing a leg brace that helped him with mobility for several months, Garry served out the rest of his three years in the army, being finally discharged on May 22, 1970. The remainder of those years was spent primarily along the east coast, testing equipment for the army.

Garry still has three distinct scars on his left abdomen, marking an almost perfect equilateral triangle. The wounds, long healed, became painless much sooner than the memories of Vietnam.

Read the full article at UpNorthVoice.com

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Honoring our local heroes

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Mark Constance

Michael L. Crittenden

Donald Faust

Larry Foster

Joseph Brinn

Honoring our local heroes

• Headland, Ron, Army, 1983

• Hicks, Robert, 379th bombardment

• Hughes, Lillian, US Navy, 1993

• Goodman, Gene N, United States Air Force, 1962

• Gordert-Jones, Tina, U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, 1984

• Harmon, Tom, USAF, Jet Fighter Crew Chief, 1962-68

• Hunt, Alan, U.S. Army, 1969, 11th CAV, Vietnam,

• Ingle, Barbara Ann, US Navy, 1966- 1969

• Irwin, Bradley, US Army, Vietnam

• Johnson, Darryl, U.S. Navy Seebees, ret.

• Johnson, Josh, Active duty, U.S. Navy

• Johnson, Matthew, US Marine Corp

• Johnston, Alan, U.S. Air Force, 576th FLTS/30th MXS, 1992 –

Dennis Frank

Robert Hicks

Michael Holland,

Bradley Irwin

Darryl Johnson

Honoring our local heroes

• Jones, Kenny, 1976-1980, USAF, 754th Radar Sq, Port Austin AFS, MI; 19831985, 1438th Engineer Det., Camp Grayling; 1985-1993, 127th Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance, Weapons Branch, Selfridge ANG Base, MI; 20002017, Ammunition Supply Point, Camp Grayling MI, 2019 to current, Vol. Driver DAV for Crawford County

• Kirkendall, Cecil

• Luck, David, Missile Technician second class(E5), MT2/SS, discharge 1/20/94 was stationed at Groton, CT.

• Mathews, Gerald, Army, 1967

• McIsaac, Stacy, 2010-2012, Army 14E patriot missile operator and maintainer, Fort Bliss, El Paso, TX

• Melvin, Ken, U.S. Air Force

Basic Training

• Nieman, Marilyn, US Army Journalist, 1973

• Plohg, James, U.S. Army, Honorable discharge

• Raymond, Daniel, US Air Force, 1975

Robinson III, Steven, USMC

James C., United States Army, 101st Airborne,

Continued

Josh Johnson

Matthew Johnson

Jennifer Austin Romancky

Cecil Kirkendall

David Luck

Honoring our local heroes

Drum, NY, Afghanistan

Stanaway, Logan, Active-duty U.S. Army, Fort Sill, Oklahoma

Stutesman, Warren, U.S.

Corp,

Sutter, John, 1974, Vietnam,

Austin Romancky, Jennifer, US

Navy,

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Ken Melvin

James Plohg

Steven Robinson III.jpg

Calvin Witherspoon

Jon Shurtz

Logan Stanaway

~ Veteran get togethers ~

OTSEGO COUNTY

1st Wed– Otsego Co. Veterans Coffee hour Gaylord Regional Airport, located at 1100 Aero Drive, Gaylord, MI 49735. 9 a.m.

ROSCOMMON COUNTY

1st Thursday - Roscommon County Veterans Coffee hour at Blodgett Airport, located at 5218 E Houghton Lake Drive. 989-366-7660, 9 a.m.

ALCONA COUNTY

1st & 3rd ThursdayAlcona County Veterans Coffee & Donuts, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 201 N Second Street in Harrisville, 9 a.m.

OTSEGO COUNTY

2nd Monday- Northern Michigan Veterans Coalition board meeting at 9:30 a.m. at Chemical Bank, located at 521 W Main St. Gaylord

2nd Wednesday – Otsego County Veterans lunch room 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Gaylord Bowling Center (LZ-282), located at 1200 Gornick Avenue in Gaylord.

3rd Wednesday- Gaylord Elks Veterans Lunch at 116 Grandview Blvd. in Gaylord, Noon.

CRAWFORD COUNTY

2nd Thursday - Crawford County Veterans Coffee, 9 a.m. at American Legion Post 106 in Grayling, located at 106 S James Street in Grayling.

OSCODA COUNTY

3rd Monday – Oscoda County Veterans Coffee “get together” at Luzerne American Legion located at 202 Legion Street, 2 p.m.

CHEBOYGAN COUNTY

4th Wednesday - Veterans Coffee, McDonald’s located at 1020 South Main Street in Cheboygan. 9 a.m.

ALPENA COUNTY

4th Thursday — Alpena County. Veterans Coffee Hour, Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary located at 500 West Fletcher Street in Alpena, 9-10 a.m.

IOSCO COUNTY

3rd Thursday —Iosco County Veterans Coffee Hour through April, 9 a.m. American Legion Post, 211 located 900 E. Lincoln St, East Tawas; Change locations in May to Wurtsmith Air Force Museum, located at 4071 East Van Ett

Vets suicide numbers may be higher than expected

The rate of suicide among veterans may be more than double what federal officials report annually because of undercounting related to drug overdose deaths and service record errors, according to a new analysis released Saturday.

Officials from America’s Warrior Partnership, in a joint study with University of Alabama and Duke University, reviewed census death data from 2014 to 2018 for eight states and found thousands of cases of suspected or confirmed suicides not included in federal calculations.

If those figures were to be repeated across the other states, it would push the veterans suicide rate from about 17 individuals a day (the official estimate released by the Department of Veterans Affairs last year) to 44 veterans a day.

Jim Lorraine, president of AWP and an Air Force veteran who works in health care, said the goal of the report is not to attack state and federal officials for the shortcomings but to point out areas where death records are incomplete or being overlooked, in an effort to find more solutions to the suicide problem.

Lorraine said that in the states his researchers reviewed, many drug deaths were classified as accidents or unknown intent even though indications were that the fatalities should be grouped alongside suicides.

“Whether it’s an accident or a suicide doesn’t really matter. The point is these are preventable,” he said. “So that means we can address them.”

Researchers also found numerous cases where deceased individuals’ military history was incorrectly reported, either by coroners or family members. More often, those mistakes lead to undercounting the number of veteran deaths.

Veteran's Crisis Line, Dial 988 and press 1

To solve that issue, the group is pushing for more federal tools to access Defense Department records in an effort to confirm an individual’s veterans status.

Addressing the overdose deaths will require new public health efforts from state and local officials, Lorraine said.

“These are all preventable deaths,” he said. “The number is less important than the methodology of tracking them and making sure we have an accurate count … that can lead us to prevention steps.”

The largest category of overlooked deaths — about 60% of the uncounted cases, by the report’s estimate — concern drug overdoses.

“We can build prevention strategies with the data that is currently available,” he said. “It just needs to be merged and analyzed and then used.

“In one state, overdoses may be a higher concern than firearms. In another it might be firearms first. They need to look at the right mechanism for the problems they are facing.”

AWP hopes to expand the

What Veteran’s Day means to me

By Mark Constance

With another Veteran’s Day approaching, I am reminded of a man I knew while serving in the U.S. Army.

I was trying to hustle a few extra bucks to supplement my Spec. 4 pay, so I took a part-time job baling hay in the evenings and weekends near Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri (or ‘Fort Lost in the Woods’ for the initiated).

The man I worked for was a grizzled old farmer in worn bib overalls who lived a few miles down an overgrown two-track. Four of us bounced to his home in the back of an open Chevy pickup down the trail, which led to several hundred acres of the greenest fields I had ever seen.

We agreed on a rate of three cents a bale, shook hands and went to work.

The owner lived a simple life. His water was drawn from an outside well. To get a drink, you pulled a rope over a pulley, lifting a 4-inch stovepipe filled with water so cold you thought it came from Higgins Lake in February. You dipped your drink from a galvanized bucket using a white porcelain ladle.

His home had one large room and was heated with a wood stove. He had electricity, but didn’t use it for lights, preferring gas lamps. He told us he had the power turned on a few years earlier to operate a hay elevator because his knees bothered him “a bit.” His only other modern convenience was a small, black and white TV with aluminum foil on the antennae.

He had good friends and a solid reputation that preceded him. He would give you the shirt off his back without asking if he thought you needed it.

He was the kind of man who didn’t talk much. But when he did, everyone paused … And listened. Everything he said, he seemed to say with a purpose.

After the first cutting was finished, I sat at a wood picnic table in a buddy’s yard with him and a few other guys. It was a stifling, muggy day. The air smelled like a thunderstorm was coming.

We grilled burgers and had a few beers. The group of us talked about our experiences in the service – Where we had been. What we had done. It was a fairly typical conversation in those days.

He went on to talk about his sergeant in basic training and we all laughed. Every vet has a story about “that bastard.”

But he also went on to say the only thing he ever regretted about being in the service was that he never had a family, and he would have liked to have children. He didn’t explain why, and no one else offered at the time.

After he left, one of the older men explained that the farmer had been in the “Bataan Death March” during WWII.

After American troops were surrendered by Major General Edward P. King in the Philippines, Japanese troops marched 76,0000 prisoners of war from Mariveles, on the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula, to San Fernando, 55 miles away, and ultimately to “Camp O’Donnel” in Mukden.

If they couldn’t make the trek and fell down, they were dragged to the side of the road and shot, bayonetted or beheaded. Others were made to dig their own graves and buried alive.

Just 54,000 men reached O’Donnel, and thousands more died afterward from malnutrition and disease before the camp was liberated in August 1945.

The farmer survived the march itself. But while in captivity at O’Donnel, Japanese guards cut off his testicles. Thus, the comment about not being able to have a family.

To this day, I am still humbled and honored by the experience of having met and worked for this guy, on his terms. He asked for nothing in return from any man or from his government for his injuries. And he wouldn’t accept pity from anyone.

So, whenever I hear “Taps” being played, I remember him and what he gave for his county.

And the many veterans who were just glad to make it back home –alive.

Vets and suicide

research to more states and records in the next few years as part of its Operation Deep Dive initiative. Lorraine said he also hopes to push state officials to provide better recording and public access to the death data, to improve public discussion on the issue of veteran suicide prevention.

Veterans in need of emergency

counseling can reach the Veterans Crisis line by dialing 988 or 1-800273-8255 and selecting option 1 after connecting to reach a VA staffer. In addition, veterans, troops or their family members can also text 838255 or visit VeteransCrisisLine.net for assistance.

Story courtesy of Military Times, Leo Shane III

Second Front

Girls night out!

ROSCOMMON

~ Photos by Tracy Constance

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Noragon to join Up North Voice staff

ROSCOMMON – Alicia Noragon of Houghton Lake has been named copy editor of Up North Voice and UpNorthVoice.com effective Oct. 21

Noragon, who is originally from Harbor Springs, moved to Roscommon County with her significant other and two sons about 2.5 years ago.

Her immediate role will be to edit copy and photos from Roscommon, Crawford, Ogemaw, Oscoda and Iosco counties. With the assistance of several writers from across the region, including the new Crawford County Writer Nicole Mygrants, she will oversee story and video development. Noragon will also manage the social media component of the organization.

Separately, Noragon works part time as a probation officer in Crawford County.

“I love what I do in the criminal justice field,” Alicia said. “But I’ve always had a passion for writing. I’m excited about this new position and looking forward to getting to know the people in our coverage communities.”

Noragon can be reached at alicia@upnorthvoice.com.

Mygrants is a homeschool mom, entrepreneur and holistic health advocate. She owns and manages The

Gift A Wellness Community, partners with her husband at Northstar Autowash, leads an international dōTERRA team, Coordinates for Gaylord MOPS, and spends most of her time with her two rambunctious children.

When she isn’t teaching, Nicole is always a studentcurrently immersed in yoga teacher training certification as well as completing her bachelor degree with specialization in ayurveda wellness and Integrative Health.

Nicole is most often found talking to someone- everywhere she goes- and is truly a lover of people and sharing good conversation.

Nicole enjoys camping, hiking, kayaking, acoustic music, building others strengths, snuggling her pet bobcat and dancing in the kitchen. A Michigan native, her heart is rooted to our northern waters, forests, people and stories.

“I believe words have power to bring joy and awareness,” she said. “I try to be real with folks and authentically share this journey we are all on together.”

Nicole can be reached at thegiftwellnesscommunity@gmail. com

Alicia Noragon

Nicole Mygrants

Left: Cynde Paveglio

Operation Freedom ride held

By Hope Laney

ROSCOMMON - Amvets Post13 and the Twisted UTV group hosted their 2nd annual "Operation Freedom" ride to honor Michigan veterans and active military members. The event, held Sept. 9 and 10, included breakfast, lunch and dinner along with raffles, a scavenger hunt, poker run and prizes for the

best "Show and shine".

Amvets commander, Jeff Pierce noted that this year’s event brought over 150 participants with volunteers giving rides to active members from Camp Grayling. Also present for the event was Fire Chief Sgt. First Class Justin Wethington of Camp Grayling, displaying various fire vehicles throughout the weekend.

Fire Chief Sgt. First Class Justin Wethington

Harry and Marge Walbridge Scholarship established

ROSCOMMON - The Roscommon County Community Foundation (RCCF) established the Harry and Marjorie Walbridge Scholarship Fund to assist in higher education for a Roscommon County student.

Harry moved to the Roscommon area in 1973 and was a devoted member of many organizations including the Masonic Lodge, Roscommon Higgins Lake Lions Club, and Rotary Club of Roscommon. He also served

as the counselor for the GerrishHiggins Schools from 1973 to 1987.

Marge was a very active member of the Zonta Club of Roscommon. They were devout members of First Congregational Church. Sadly, Harry passed away in November 2016, and Marge in March 2020.

Harry and Marge were passionate about continuing education and wished to give back to the community that they loved so much. The RCCF wished to recognize their generosity over the years by establishing the Harry and Marjorie Walbridge Scholarship Fund. This fund is an open scholarship that is awarded to a student from Roscommon Area Public Schools, Houghton Lake Community Schools, and Charlton Heston Academy who wishes to continue their education. The student must have a minimum grade point average of 2.25 and attend an accredited college, university, community college, or trade/ technical/vocational school.

Want to get involved? Support our scholarship program by sending your donation to RCCF at P.O. Box 824, Roscommon, MI 48653 or by visiting our website www.myrccf.org/give/ online to donate.

ANIMAL SHELTER HOSTS EVENT – The Ogemaw County Animal Shelter held a Halloween Trunk or Treat with games Oct. 16. Setting up are (l-r) Crystal Ostrolencki, Autumn Matzke and Alaina Keenan. They had a great turnout for the event.

Marge Walbridge