BEATRICE – Gage County honored another veteran Wednesday, who served his country during wartime.


Don Junker enlisted in the United States Army in the Fall of 1965, serving until 1967 at the rank of corporal. Junker served in Vietnam and during his service, earned six medals. He remembers traveling on a Rock Island Railroad train from Fairbury to Omaha to enlist. Then it was on to training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Fort Sill in Oklahoma and Fort Irwin, in California.


"I left out of San Diego on a ship, to head to Vietnam. It took us 28 days to get there. The third day out, I really didn't care for the water....I wouldn't make a very good Navy person. When we were going through on ship we had a typhoon, and I thought that big ship was going to upset. We finally got over there. Our first stop was Okinawa and then we went on to Vietnam. The first day we didn't even have any weapons...our weapons hadn't even gotten there, yet."


Junker said he was glad he got to come home...because “a lot of them didn’t”.  Junker has been active with the local American Legion and VFW posts and is with the Legion’s Honor Guard.


Gage County Board Chairman Erich Tiemann says the county appreciates Junker’s service to his nation and that he is continuing that service at home.