Seven members of the Hardwick American Legion Post will be honored as parade marshals Saturday during the Hardwick Jubilee Days.
They are all Vietnam War veterans with ties to the Hardwick community.
Honorees include Hardwick natives Dean Wenzel, Lon Remme, Keith Schmuck, Rodger Ossenfort and Don Bryan and Kenneth natives Del Nieuwboer and Dale Remme, and they will lead the annual parade down Main Street Saturday beginning at 7 p.m.
“It’s ironic I chose them (the original five) as parade marshals, as this is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War,” said Jubilee Days committee member Lorna Bryan. “I didn’t know it when I chose them.”
All are members of the Hardwick American Legion Post 478 and served varying years between 1966 through 1971.
Rodger Ossenfort was drafted into the Army at age 19 and served from 1969-71.
“I called down here to the courthouse every month: ‘What number am I?’” he said.
The answer was the same until, “I don’t think you’ll go this month, but figure on going next month” was the message.
Forced to fight, Ossenfort said he didn’t really know why he and other soldiers were there.
Others decided to enlist in order to choose in which military branch they would serve.
Lon Remme enlisted in the Marines, serving as a mechanic from 1967 to 1969. He recalled enlisting with two of his Hardwick friends, when their draft notices came.
“You know what? I want to come back in one piece,” Remme said. “So we went to Sioux Falls and joined the Marine Corps.”
He, like his fellow veterans, was proud to serve.
“I’d do it again,” he said. “It’s our country — we gotta stand up for it.”
Don Bryan joined the Air Force in 1966, serving until 1970.
“I figured I’d maybe actually get something or learn something out of it,” he said.
Bryan became a mechanic and was stationed at Phan Rang Air Base in South Vietnam. He fixed a variety of equipment from spray planes, gunships to jets supporting the ground troops.”
Keith Schmuck served as a Seabee in the Navy, building bunkers and air strips on the sandy ground in Vietnam.
He served from 1968 to 1969, a time he talks frequently about in high school history classes.
The Vietnam War lasted 20 years between North and South Vietnam with the U.S. joining forces with South Vietnam in 1965.
U.S. involvement in the war effort was not popular at home.
“They told us not to talk — just be quiet and kind of blend in,” Schmuck recalled after his discharge in 1969.
Dean Wenzel, who served in the Army from 1968 to 1971, recalled being spit at as he traveled back home to Rock County.
“I just kept walking,” he said.
On Saturday the veterans will lead the 7 p.m. parade in Hardwick.
Jubilee Days activities begin at 5 p.m. Saturday with a freewill offering community meal and music by Ron and Jane Cote.
Also beginning at 5 p.m. are free inflatables and Caricature Drawings by Casey until 8:30 p.m.
A bale toss for men and women and a pedal pull for ages 4 through 11 will be after the 7 p.m. parade.
On Sunday a community worship service begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Hardwick Community Hall followed by a freewill offering lunch.
