Spec. 5 David Hartman - Vietnam Veteran

Dave enjoyed his classes in mechanics at Jonesville High School. He also realized that he would be doing himself a favor if he left Jonesville to experience the wider world. A week following his graduation he enlisted in the army and received further training in how to service jeeps and tanks. In late 1968 he left for a year’s tour of duty in Vietnam, where he was stationed as a mechanic at Vaunrow Bay Army Base. Supply ships regularly came to the Bay. The Army moved their contents along a sinuous 30 mile road to the Air Force base, from which missions were launched. Dave and his fellow mechanics, exempt from regular army duties because of the importance of their job, were responsible for keeping all vehicles moving. 

Two of them always drove a gun truck escort for the convoys, alert to danger at all times and prepared to either fix or blow up any of their vehicles with mechanical problems. Dave’s favorite high school subject had become the way he kept others fed, clothed and supplied with what they needed to fight the war. 

JoAnne P. Miller