Correspondent photo / Tim Gleason Haskel Westmoreland, 87, of Mineral Ridge, spent 22 years in the Army. Beside him are his medals and other memorabilia from his time in the service.

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MINERAL RIDGE — If you visit Haskel Westmoreland’s home in Mineral Ridge, you just might think you are in a military museum because of all the medals, commendations, awards, weapons, artifacts and proclamations on display.

Among the honors and accolades you will see are a Silver Star Medal, two Purple Hearts, a Legion of Merit, five Bronze Stars, an Air Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, National Defense Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Expert Infantry Badge and Air Assault Badge.

Westmoreland, or Wes as he is affectionately known, is 87 and still has vivid memories of his days in Vietnam — three tours of duty, from 1966 to 1971. All told, Westmoreland served in the United States Army for 22 years.

Born in 1937 in Beckley, W.Va., and at the suggestion of his parents, Westmoreland enlisted in the Army in 1955 before he graduated from high school.

“I was young and didn’t have any discipline or direction in life,” Westmoreland recalled. “My parents believed the Army might be my calling, and they were right.”

After military stints in Japan and Korea, Westmoreland came home and married his wife of 66 years, the former Gerry Calhoun, in 1958, whom he grew up with in Beckley. He also was promoted to sergeant that year. Westmoreland did receive his GED diploma in Germany in 1962, while on a three-year overseas deployment.

Promoted to first sergeant in 1963 after coming home from Germany, Westmoreland was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, where he trained soldiers to fight and prepare for Vietnam. Three years later, Westmoreland and his entire company were shipped to Vietnam in July 1966, to join the First Cavalry Division. At the age of 29, he was told he was the youngest first sergeant in the Army.

“My company hated my guts,” Westmoreland said. “They thought I was too hard on them. I learned that they actually took up a collection of $75, a lot of money back then, to reward anyone who would actually shoot me.”

Once in Vietnam, when that same company realized the gravity of the situation they were in, they thanked Westmoreland for being so hard on them. They, along with Westmoreland, were on the front lines of a sniper war. The soldiers took the $75 and gave it to Westmoreland, admitting the embarrassing story of why they collected it.

A month into his first Vietnam tour, Westmoreland received his first Purple Heart. He and his best friend were both shot in a fox hole. While a bullet tore through Westmoreland’s left elbow, another bullet killed the friend lying next to him.

“You grow up pretty fast when something like that happens,” Westmoreland said. “Thank God we had terrific medical people over there to rebuild my entire arm, but nothing could be done for my buddy.”

A year later, during his second Vietnam tour, Westmoreland was part of an Army unit of about 125 soldiers. During heavy gunfire, the unit’s company commander suffered a panic attack and remained in his fox hole, unable to leave it. Westmoreland took command of the entire unit.

“Somebody had to,” Westmoreland said. “We had a half-dozen soldiers trapped in a marsh with helicopters firing at them overhead.”

Westmoreland maneuvered a group of fighters to rescue the trapped soldiers. He later received the U.S. Armed Forces’ Silver Star Medal, one of the highest military honors bestowed for valor in combat.

It was during his third tour in Vietnam that Westmoreland, for the second time, thought he would never come home. He stepped on a booby trap, where a punji stick, known as a “poison arrow,” pierced his right leg. While roughly 1,000 American soldiers died from punji sticks in Vietnam, Westmoreland was one of the “lucky” ones who survived. He spent three months in a military hospital, earning his second Purple Heart.

“I was scared every single day,” Westmoreland said, “but I couldn’t show it to my troops. I thought if I came across as fearless, the others would gain strength from my example.”

In 1971, Westmoreland returned to the United States for good. Upon receiving an associate’s degree from El Paso Community College, he was promoted to command sergeant major at the age of 34 – believed to be the youngest individual ever to achieve that rank. His new role was to train young soldiers for military battle, as he had done eight years earlier.

Westmoreland retired from the Army in 1977. He accepted a job at Thomas Steel Strip in Warren, where he worked for 24 years until retiring in 2001. The Westmorelands lived in nearby Johnston, until moving to Mineral Ridge in 2010.

Haskel Westmoreland

AGE: 87

RESIDENCE: Mineral Ridge

SERVICE BRANCH: Army

MILITARY HONORS: Silver Star Medal, two Purple Hearts, Legion of Merit, five Bronze Stars, Air Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, National Defense Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Expert Infantry Badge and Air Assault Badge

OCCUPATION: Retired, Thomas Steel Strip

FAMILY: wife, Geraldine (Calhoun) of 66 years