Vietnam veteran looking out for his own

WASILLA — Every day is Veterans Day for Dave Glenn.

Owner and operation of Grasshopper Aviation, the local pilot is active as an advocate for local veterans. Now 66, Glenn still has vivid memories from his time in the Army’s 101st Airborne division, including a tour in Vietnam from 1965-66.

He entered the service in 1963 at age 19 and at a time when the American public generally didn’t know much about Vietnam.

“You know, it really wasn’t on the horizon in 1963,” he said. “People weren’t talking about it much. There was some special operations stuff going on there, but we didn’t know about it.”

Vietnam was a world away from where Glenn grew up in Burney, Calif., but it was a sense of adventure that led him to Alaska in 1975.

“I got home from Vietnam and went into the (California) Highway Patrol and spent 10 years there,” he said. “I had always wanted to come to Alaska. In fact, in the Army I put in to come to Alaska, so naturally they sent me to Kentucky.”

After moving to the Last Frontier, Glenn opened Grasshopper Aviation in Palmer in 1992, then moved to his current location at the Wasilla airport in 1994. But Glenn’s passion for his country never waned trough his travels.

In more than three decades here, he’s become a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2508 and Vietnam Veterans of America 903. It’s his work with fellow Army veteran Maurice Bailey and Veterans Aviation Outreach that has led Glenn to his most ambitious volunteer work for Alaska veterans. As part of the group, Glenn helps identify and contact military veterans in the state’s Bush areas.

“We’re both pilots,” Glenn said of Bailey. “He’s a Democrat, I’m an old redneck, so we can have some real interesting conversations. We both believe this is America, and without both sides we don’t have America.”

Being a veteran now in his 60s, Glenn said he can relate on a personal level with many of those who need help.

“We try to go out into the boondocks and find these recluse fellows,” he said. “We get them into the VA (Veterans Administration) system. Most of them are my age, they’re in their 60s and in dire need of medical care — most of them. They have earned a lot of benefits and are not aware of it.”

Many are like one man who lives less than 75 miles from Wasilla, Glenn said.

“He’s not playing with a real full deck,” he said, adding the man is paranoid about the government and lives off of subsistence and his PFD payment.

“He thinks there are satellites up there watching him, so he won’t sign up for any benefits because he doesn’t want the government spying on him,” Glenn said. But, he continues to talk to the man in an effort to convince him to receive the help he’s entitled to. “We’re going to get him in, I think.”

Glenn also hopes for bigger and better for Veterans Aviation Outreach. He’d like to see the group have its own aircraft, hangar and a reliable revenue stream to help more Bush veterans.

“Our big vision is to eventually have a twin-engine aircraft that’s capable of a decent flight, have our own hangar and have money for the insurance, maintenance and fuel costs,” he said. “We have several guys on board now who are decent pilots, we just lack about a half a million dollars in funding.”

Although he believes “Vietnam was a huge mistake and a lot of us suffered greatly,” Glenn has more sympathy for today’s servicemen and women.

“The burden with me now is with these kids coming home from Afghanistan,” he said. “They’re really, really getting screwed. They’re doing three or four tours. I can’t imagine doing that many tours.”

He also is a firm believer in making sure those who have and are serving their country receive simple recognition for their sacrifice.

“These are America’s best. We need to extend them our friendship and support,” he said. “Just be there. You don’t have to go bug them, but anybody you know that’s come home, just say, ‘Hey Joe, I’m here if you need me.’”

Glenn’s “Hey Joe” moment came last year, 45 years after he returned from Vietnam. He was in The Home Depot and someone noticed his 101st Airborne hat.

“That just stopped me in my tracks,” Glenn said. “Nobody for 45 years had said ‘thank you.’ Not one damn person. I still kind of choke up when I think about it.”

That simple phrase “means the world” to veterans, he said. “That’s the guy I was there in Vietnam for. I know one person appreciates it, and that’s all it takes.”

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