To the editor:

On Tuesday, April 22, Iowa Central Community College hosted a ceremony to honor 55 Vietnam servicemen from communities in the area who lost their lives in a country thousands of miles from their loved ones, their friends, their homes. The ceremony was a formal introduction of the book “Before They Were Soldiers”, a collection of short stories from family members and friends of the lives and the remembrances of those 55 men before they entered the service.

I was honored at the ceremony to represent the family of Delbert Ray Peterson (featured in the book) of Manson. My oldest brother Delbert died in Vietnam on March 9, 1966. Delbert was one of seven children (five boys and two girls) born to Raymond and Bernice Peterson. My dad, Raymond, was wounded in Germany in WWII and I and my four brothers all served in the military. My mom and my two sisters were left behind to worry about the rest of us.

During the ceremony I, along with other family members of the 55, were recognized and given a copy of the book. The ceremony was both informative and humbling and included a military salute by members of VFW Post 1856 of Fort Dodge, commanded by Rich Lennon, all of whom are Vietnam veterans.

I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to TJ Martin, the dean of distance learning at Iowa Central, the brainchild of the idea to collect the stories in the book. Thank you also to Kurt Schmid, a history professor at Iowa Central, and to the many students who gave of their time to interview family members and friends to compile the stories and create the final document. I give a special thank you to Dr. Jessie Ulrich, the president of Iowa Central, for approving the project and approving the creation of the special course for the students. I know there are many others, including the Iowa Central students who provided appropriate music at the ceremony, and other Iowa Central staff who contributed their time and effort. Thank you to all of you.

To the families that were in attendance and to all who have lost a loved one while in the military, “they are gone, but never forgotten.”

Chuck Peterson

Fort Dodge