Breaking News
Local News

Continued service

Veteran honorees remain loyal long after retirement

By Janelle Patterson 7 min read

When a U.S. military veterans return home from service, they often still bear the marks of their training.

“It’s in the discipline, the loyalty, the character building,” said Retired Marine David Smith, 83, of Marietta, “I think that every individual, male and female ought to serve.”

Smith isn’t the only inductee into the 2018 class of the Washington County Veterans Hall of Fame to recognize that training and time in service as a formative part of his life.

“I think everybody should serve some, and should live overseas,” said Retired Navy Seabee Ronnie Davis, 67, of Marietta, who served two tours in Vietnam, and continues to serve veterans of all branches through local, state and national organizations. “It shows you the world and just how fortunate we are here as Americans.”

Both men are part of the inaugural class for the local hall of fame, and are being recognized for their continued service to veterans as civilians at an induction ceremony and dinner on Nov. 1 in Marietta. The Marietta Times will continue the series recognizing the 11 veterans to be inducted in the inaugural Washington County Veterans Hall of Fame leading up to the induction ceremony.

“There’s not a veterans event that I’m at where David isn’t also there,” said Veterans Service Commission Executive Director Robert Fitzgerald.

Likewise, Davis has led not only the local VFW post in community fundraising for youth sports and for veterans, but even served both as District 5 commander and led the state for the VFW between 2016 and 2017.

“Serving in the VFW has allowed me to continue helping…but the proudest moments are more than the ball fields and community events,” said Davis. “It’s those when another vet comes and tells me they’ve saved $700 on prescriptions because of some information I gave them.”

But the past Ohio commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars hasn’t served since 1969 for the accolades. He serves to honor the brethren he still sees when he closes his eyes--those who didn’t return home from war.

“I wouldn’t march in a parade for a long time, or go into the VFW, I felt shame like I was disrespecting all of those guys,” Davis recalled. “But then in my mind it changed. I thought how much those guys would rather be marching, or showing up for graveside honors, that they’d want to be here. That’s when I got more involved.”

Davis still recalls the impact fighting in the Tet Offensive, guarding doctors visiting Vietnamese villages and fixing up orphanages across the world had on his world view.

“I had joined the Navy to see the world and have a girl in every port,” he said, laughing. “But I was 18, dumb and bulletproof--or so I thought. I was American and we don’t get overrun, we don’t get tied in. Until we were.”

Then he learned how vulnerable life is, as he saw helicopters drop off supplies and leave without him.

“You see your buddies die and the first thing in your mind is worrying about the parents getting word,” he explained. “Most had to have closed caskets with how bad it was. And we never got to go to their funerals because we were still fighting.”

He said those experiences humbled him to the privileges of home and he left Vietnam with additional lessons of communication.

“I was in the Navy, but I was always stationed on land with the Korean marines or Vietnamese soldiers. I only ever saw a ship once, and I was on the shore,” he described. “But we didn’t need to be able to speak to understand each other out on details. If the guy in front of me hit the dirt, I hit the dirt. If he woke me speaking in Korean but he was covering his light, I knew the enemy was around us.”

And despite the harsh responses he first saw when returning home from an unpopular war, his service is one he remains proud of.

“I would have gone back for a third tour,” he said. “You know, we protected each other over there, we should protect each other over here. That’s why I’m in these veterans groups and why I want to fight for the little groups as a (VFW) National Council member. These veterans groups can do so much good at home, too.”

Lifelong Advocate

Smith, who joined the Marine Corps right out of high school, was following in the footsteps of a basketball coach who lost his life in the Korean War.

“He never came home and that had a profound impact on me at that age, when I was in junior high school,” he said.

And though Smith’s service was in peacetime, he said he held onto the training and lessons as he continued the family business, Sewah Studios, and raised his family.

“Those first six weeks of basic training center on unit building, on being a team and acting outside of yourself,” he said. “The same training I got in the Marine Corps applies to running a business in the way you treat your employees, in mentoring and caring about people.”

He said he applied the lessons he learned as he taught in his business and built relationships based on quality and work ethic.

“If you truly care for an employee and foster that relationship with the client, that’s how you get loyalty,” he explained.

And though Smith is retired, he continues to care about his people, joining the Marietta detachment of the Marine Corps League each Wednesday as they visit veterans in nursing homes, and raising funds to support veterans in need.

Smith’s efforts for advocacy don’t stop with the league, though. He’s also a member of the American Legion, the VFW and the Mid-Ohio Valley Veterans Outreach organization.

“I guess my efforts for advocacy really started in 2013 as we did some brainstorming and saw a need to better coordinate between the different veterans groups and leverage the capabilities of each one to work together,” he said of MOVVO.

He helped launch the organization with other local veterans and state representation.

“Then we started noticing where there were gaps in funding,” Smith explained. “That’s when we started fundraising to fill that void. If a veteran needed safety shoes for a job we’d spring for the shoes. Or if they needed a motel stay for a couple nights or gas money to get to an interview that’s where we’d try to lend a hand.”

Those same principles, he said, are reflected in his basic training.

“We were taught to never leave a man behind,” he added. “That applies out of uniform, too.”

018 Washington County Veterans Hall of Fame Inductees:

• 1st Lt. Robert L. Pioli, U.S. Army Air Corps 1942-1945; Military Service.

• Pvt. James “Jimmy” Starner, U.S. Army 1944-46; Military Service.

• Sgt. David Smith, U.S. Marine Corps 1953-1956; Veterans Advocate, Professional Achievement, Civic and Community Service.

• Cpl. Joe Matthews, U.S. Marine Corps 1956-1958; Veterans Advocate, Professional Achievement, Civic and Community Service.

• Builder Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald W. Davis, U.S. Navy 1966-1971; Veteran Advocate and Community Service.

• Spc. Kelly E. Burchett, U.S. Army 1967-68; Military Service, posthumous award.

• Sgt. Gary A. Rhoades, U.S. Army 1967-1969; Military Service.

• Cpl. Charles “Jean” Yost, U.S. Marine Corps 1967-1969; Civic and Community Service.

• Sgt. Meredith L. Barnett, U.S. Marine Corps 1969-1970; Military Service, posthumous award.

• Sgt. Steven J. Hall, U.S. Army 1969-1971; Military Service.

• Cpl. Kyle A. Hockenberry, U.S. Army 2010-2013; Military Service.

Source: Washington County Veterans Service Commission.

Starting at /week.