‘If I had to, I’d do it again’

PALMER — When Ralph “Red” Kretser gets together with his buddies at the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home, conversation can cover a wide range of topics, except the one they all have in common — their wartime military service.

“I try not to think about it. I don’t know why,” said Kretser, who spent 20 years in the U.S. Army and served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. “We don’t talk about war at all. We talk about other things. You might say you were in Korea or Vietnam or something like that, but you don’t talk about what you did.”

For those who have seen war, many of their memories of service are not pleasant, Kretser said. That many veterans like himself don’t want to relive those memories daily doesn’t mean they want their service and sacrifices to be forgotten, either.

“I don’t know what kind of recognition (veterans should receive),” he said. “I think they should get something better than they’re getting.”

For himself and other veterans of the Vietnam War, that positive recognition has been a long time coming. Kretser said he never really had a good “welcome home” moment returning from either war, and he doesn’t agree with the protests and slurs thrown at soldiers returning from Vietnam.

That anti-war sentiment was misplaced, he said. What those yelling “baby killer” at veterans at that time didn’t realize is that being anti-war didn’t have to include being anti-veteran.

“A lot of people went to Canada (to avoid service),” he said. “Those people who did that weren’t for their country, no way.”

19 and invincible

Kretser describes himself as a “free-as-a-bird” 19-year-old with no family or other obligations to worry about when he enlisted in 1950. He was quickly trained as an infantryman and sent to Korea, where he served 13 months assigned to clear mines ahead of U.S. tanks. It was a job they called “spearheading,” he said, because he and others in his unit would walk ahead of tanks spotting and detonating enemy mines.

“Me and three of my buddies went in at the same time,” Kretser said. “One of them went to France, and the other three of us went to Korea and we were in the same platoon. All of us came back.”

When he first got to Korea, Kretser admits he felt like he was 19 and invincible. That illusion was shattered in a split-second by an enemy bullet.

“I was the leader of the anti-tank and mine patrol, doing spearheads and stuff like that,” he said. “We laid mines and picked mines up, leading the tanks. But I didn’t know what war was until I actually got wounded. I was shot by the enemy, shot in the leg.”

In their forward position, Kretser said those scouting for mines were good targets for enemy snipers. He took a bullet to the left leg, and was back on the spearhead three weeks later.

When he wasn’t clearing or setting mines, Kretser said he also saw front-line combat as an infantryman. He didn’t consider the sacrifices soldiers make until later in his military career.

“I didn’t think much about it at the time. I was just over there,” he said. “Actually, I didn’t think (getting wounded) could happen to me until I got shot. Then, it was a different story. I was 19, didn’t care, wasn’t married. Getting shot made me wake up.”

By the time the Vietnam War rolled around, he was married with two children, something that changed his perspective. This time around, though, Kretser was assigned to an engineering group and spent his time building infrastructure for the U.S. effort.

“I didn’t see much action in Vietnam,” he said. “It was mostly building roads and airfields and stuff like that. It wasn’t as bad for me there as when I went to Korea.”

Having served in a forward capacity before, Kretser said he always had a special appreciation for those on the front lines.

It was service in Vietnam that prompted Kretser to retire in 1970, he said. He had been ordered back to Vietnam when his wife died, so Kretser chose to retire rather than leave their two children behind.

Proud to serve

Kretser earned his nickname “Red” as a boy, when he had “very red, red hair,” he said. Now his hair is white and he proudly wears his New England Patriots T-shirt at the veterans home in Palmer. His favorite pastime is watching football.

While he doesn’t talk about some specific experiences of war, evidence of his service is lovingly preserved on his wall, along with treasured family photos. Under glass are his service medals, including the Purple Heart he earned from being shot in Korea.

Kretser said he’s very proud to have served his country and believes military service “is a responsibility” for everyone. He said nobody wants to go to war and those who serve during wartime don’t want to be there. It’s the service that’s important, he said, the willingness to sacrifice for a country that provides so much for yourself and your family.

“Well, it had to be done by somebody,” he said. “At that time (when he enlisted), it was hard to get a job somewhere, so that’s why I first went into the service.”

What he found was a career that eventually saw him retire with a rank of E-6. He said there were several attempts to promote him to E-7, but he resisted because that would have put him in an administrative role.

“That (promotion) would have made me shuffle papers and taken me out of the field,” he said.

Kretser first came to Alaska with the Army in 1961 when he was stationed in Fairbanks, and he returned to stay after his retirement. Asked what he thinks about on special days to honor veterans, like Veterans Day or Memorial Day, his answer was surprising.

“To me, it’s just another day,” he said, adding that while he lost friends and saw comrades die, “you try not to think of them too much.”

He’s one of the lucky ones, he said. He got out alive.

“If I had to, I’d do it again,” Kretser said. “I did it for my country, and this country has been good to me.”

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.

What: Veterans Day service

When: 11:11 a.m., Nov. 11

Where: Veterans Wall of Honor, 7744 E. Visitors View Court at the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau.