Memorial Day brings back duty days in Vietnam

WASILLA — It’s been nearly 42 years since Charles Hermans was a Navy Seabee in Vietnam. But the decades seem to melt away when talking to the retired 24-year military veteran.

Hermans was among the dozens who turned out for Monday’s Valley Veterans Walk from the Wasilla Post Office to Aurora Cemetery. Sponsored by American Veterans Post 9, Hermans had his usual place — at the front of the walk carrying one of the flags for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9365.

Memorial Day carries a special significance for Hermans, who said he was thinking of a dear friend he lost in Vietnam.

“I’m remembering a classmate,” he said. “He was more like a brother to me. I lost him March 1968. He was with Army Recon.”

It’s one of many vivid memories Hermans has of his tour in Vietnam, which lasted “one year, nine months and one day.”

Before embarking on a career with the Seabees, Hermans was born in Rochester, N.Y. in 1944 and moved to California with his family at age 9. His path would lead to Alaska in 1966, but unlike many who are introduced to the Last Frontier through the military, he had a different motivation to venture north.

“Well, I got a divorce,” Hermans said, adding that in addition to his parents having previously moved here, Alaska seemed the farthest place to get away from his ex.

But it’s his upbringing and Navy experience that has molded Hermans the most. That sense of patriotism and moral upbringing is lacking in many families today, he said.

That his family has never missed a veterans walk “is a reflection on the family as a whole,” he said “It’s what they were taught. Veterans aren’t remembered as much as they should be. People’s minds are on other things, … like barbecues. But I see these people out here and I’m grateful.”

Although there are memories from his time in Vietnam Hermans said are not pleasant, overall he enjoyed his service and would do it again “in a heartbeat. In fact, I thought about getting in on Desert Storm, but I had already retired out.”

Like most around the world, Hermans was shocked by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was just stunned that someone would have the audacity to attack us like that,” he said, adding he thinks the United States reacted well to the attacks. “I agree with Afghanistan and the jury’s still out on Iraq.”

Hermans also thinks today’s soldiers are being asked to do too many tours and to serve too long in war zones.

“Their tours are too long,” he said. “A one-year tour is long enough.”

He recalls one incident during his time in Vietnam when his unit was targeted by a sniper.

“We were going to work and started taking sniper rounds,” he said. “We took cover behind the vehicles and tried to get back at them and not get hit ourselves.”

The only casualties of that encounter were the vehicles.

In a sentiment echoed by those in earshot at Monday’s walk, Hermans also thinks youth today are being raised with a watered down sense of patriotism.

It’s a problem that needs to be addressed in the home and at schools, he said.

“It’s got to start in the home, and it’s got to be taught in school,” Hermans said. “They do the Pledge of Allegiance in schools today, and that’s it. We need more. More history.”

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