Staff photo / David Skolnick Gary Barnes of Austintown served 10 months in Vietnam during the war there. For the past 12 years, he’s been commander of the Catholic War Veterans Post 1292 in Youngstown.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series published each Monday between Memorial Day and Veterans Day honoring local veterans. To nominate a veteran, email metro editor Marly Kosinski at mkosinski@tribtoday.com.

AUSTINTOWN — Gary Barnes was married for a year with a 6-month-old son while holding down a job and attending Youngstown State University part-time when he got a letter in the mail in 1969.

“I had a college deferment and got dropped in hours at my job,” Barnes said. “Within a month or two, I got my notice saying, ‘You’re being drafted into the U.S. Army.'”

The war in Vietnam was raging at the time.

“I didn’t want to go as I had a son and was recently married, but I went,” Barnes said. “I’m happy I went. I’m a patriotic person.”

Barnes did his basic training at Fort Campbell in

Kentucky and advanced infantry division training at Fort Gordon in Georgia before being transferred to Fort Hood in Texas, where he got his orders to go to Vietnam.

During his time overseas, from August 1970 to June 1971, Barnes delivered supplies to those on the front lines.

“Coming from our country, which is peaceful, it was more or less a surprise to me to go to Vietnam,” he said. “I knew Vietnam had its problems. I took it as a chance to help the people of that country. They were generally good people.”

The most harrowing time for Barnes occurred in March 1971 at a landing zone in a field in Chu Lai where his unit was overrun. “It was a very bad experience. We had a company commander killed that night, and we lost about 30 men from our unit.”

Barnes earned a Bronze Star for his actions.

“We got a surprise attack,” he said. “We didn’t pick up on it until it was too late. We lost too many guys that night. I was fortunate. At that point, I was ready to go home.”

A few months later, Barnes got to leave on a college deferment about two months before his yearlong tour of duty ended.

“I had my experiences, but I don’t like to get into them,” he said. “I did what I had to do and came home without a scratch. I was one of the lucky ones.”

When he returned home, Barnes said it was “a strange adjustment” particularly because his son, Gary Jr., was 2 1/2 years old and hadn’t seen him.

“He was scared to death of me because he was so young,” Barnes said. “He looked at my father-in-law as his father. But, in time, he and I became close and have a great relationship.”

He and his wife, Diana, celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary in May.

When he came home, Barnes resumed his job as a delivery truck driver for Thornton Laundry and Dry Cleaning in Youngstown, which was purchased by Penn Ohio Towel Supply. He retired in 2001 when the business was bought by Domestic Uniform Rental. After that, Barnes spent 18 years driving a bus for the downtown Youngstown YMCA, retiring last year.

In 2002, he joined the Catholic War Veterans Post 1292 on Steel Street in Youngstown. Six years later, he was the commander and has served in that role ever since. The post has more than 300 members, including 115 veterans, he said.

“There are a lot of good people here,” Barnes said. “I come every morning and balance the books and pay the bills. We have a lot of members and we’re always looking for more.”

Barnes said: “I’ve led an interesting life. I’m happy everything has worked out.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com