MARQUETTE — When you talk to Jim Provost about everything he’s been able to accomplish for Marquette County Veterans, you can’t help but wonder how he does it all. But it doesn’t take long to understand why. Provost himself is a Vietnam veteran. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps ...
MARQUETTE — You can’t miss Jim Feliciano when he’s headed to the Jacobetti Home for Veteran’s. He’ll be the one in a colorful Hawaiin shirt. ““If I can help, that is what I am here to do,” he said. “When (Jacobetti center veterans) see me come in with my Hawaiian shirt on, ...
MARQUETTE — When you sit down and talk to Charlie Hawes in his home in Marquette, his easy manner makes it hard, at first, to connect the fact that the decorated veteran served in the U.S. Navy during Vietnam “I joined because I figured it was my duty, obligation. But it was also always ...
NATIONAL MINE — Bill Hager is a force to be reckoned with. His military service is unique because he served in two different branches before finally retiring. Hager did a stint in the U.S. Navy as an electricians mate from 1963-67. Then in 1977, he joined the U.S. Army serving from ...
MARQUETTE - Tony Troutman grew up in Hawaii, the son of a U.S. Navy officer. He followed in his family tradition by spending about 30 years in the line of duty himself. Troutman served in the from 1975 to 1997 and then served in the reserves for 8 years. “I grew up watching the military ...
MARQUETTE - Kathy Andel has worn green for a lot of her life, although lately it’s green and gold. Andel walked into our interview wearing a Northern Michigan t-shirt that said “We can be the change.” She was one of the first women to serve in the Army as a licensed practical nurse ...
MARQUETTE — When Wilho Ritola, now 93, joined the U.S. Army in June 1946, the lifelong Republic resident found himself rapidly propelled into a new way of life. “I enlisted at 4’o clock one afternoon in Marquette,” he said. “I was on the 400 train on the way to Chicago the next ...
MARQUETTE — When Dan Atkins departed Ishpeming for special training in Indiana prior to his deployment to Iraq in 2004, it was impossible to truly fathom or prepare for what awaited him on the other side of the world. “It was just different all together because of ... the barriers that we ...
MARQUETTE — When Bob Bannan, 77, of Negaunee Township was asked to describe how he became enlisted during the Vietnam War, he called it “divine intervention.” Bannan said he went to the post office for the third time in search of the means to register for the draft. However, he ...
MARQUETTE — As Jim Hein, then a 20-year-old private in the U.S. Army Infantry, prepared in 1953 to enter the trenches of the Korean War, the reason for his service was painted in vivid detail as he rode a troop transport train from Busan, South Korea, to Chuncheon, South Korea. As Hein sat ...
MARQUETTE — When Dennis Grall was sent on a rescue mission to aid an injured man during the Vietnam War, he didn’t know anything about the wounded Marine, or if the man would even survive. But in the weeks following the rescue, Grall would find out he had a surprising geographic ...
MARQUETTE — Lorrie Robinson will never forget the moment in 1990 when she heard about Desert Shield, which would soon develop into Desert Storm. She was standing in a formation with the 32nd Combat Hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, when the news was announced. “I couldn’t understand ...
MARQUETTE — Willis Remus, who turns 94 this month, grew up in the Great Depression era and is no stranger to hard work or challenging circumstances. However, when Remus was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950 to serve in the Korean War, he never could have imagined the events that awaited ...
It started as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919 — the first anniversary of the end of World War I. In 1927, Congress passed a resolution for an annual observance, with Nov. 11 becoming a national holiday in 1938. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name of the ...
MARQUETTE — Local veterans have served our nation and sacrificed much over the years in an effort to ensure freedom at home and abroad. Some veterans have faced battles and injuries. Some have endured imprisonment at the hands of enemy forces. Some have rescued and cared for fellow service ...
