Correspondent photo / Bill Koch ... Kenneth Calhoun of Ellsworth stands in front of a shadowbox containing his medals and other items from his time in the Marine Corps.

ELLSWORTH — Kenneth Calhoun remembers the moment he decided to be a Marine.

His father moved the family from the coal mines of Tarentum, Pa., to Indianapolis, where Calhoun belonged to his high school’s ROTC. A Marine came to a function wearing his dress blues.

“I looked and said that’s what I want to do — I want to be a Marine,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun graduated in 1965. Against the wishes of his father, he enlisted.

“My dad told me I’d never make it. I made up my mind that I would show him.” Although his father didn’t often admit to being wrong, “He did tell me before he passed away.”

In February 1966, Calhoun underwent boot camp in San Diego. From there it was Memphis for training as an aircraft mechanic.

“I chose aviation. I figured that was a great field to get into, and I didn’t want to be a ground pounder,” Calhoun said.

He was selected for Vietnam and he arrived at Camp Pendleton in California. But first, “they sent me to take a language test. I fell asleep halfway through from waiting for a plane the night before so I didn’t figure I passed. Three days later they said, ‘you’re going to language school.’ I said I didn’t want to go. The platoon sergeant told me to go because I’d probably get promoted.”

Calhoun spent three months in Monterey, California, working with a Vietnamese language teacher. When he arrived in Vietnam, the commanding officer identified him as their new interpreter. With only three months of training Calhoun said, “No sir. I’m not an interpreter.” The officer replied, “You went to language school? You’re our interpreter.”

Calhoun’s duties were in industrial relations, where they hired and fired the people who worked on the base, and Civic Action, which involved getting to know the villagers.

“I spent more time with the people than most GI’s in the country did. We taught them different ways of farming. We lived with the people and got to know them.”

Much of what he saw was heartbreaking. “One woman tried to give me her child to take home. There was an incident with a little boy. We didn’t know he had bubonic plague. We lost him.”

The Tet Offensive in 1968 was especially upsetting as their village was overrun by the Viet Cong. Although he was involved in several firefights, the difficult part for Calhoun was losing people he knew.

“The toughest thing was the children. One little boy I carried to a doctor. He picked up an unexploded ordnance, and it blew up. It took his leg off.”

When he was not allowed in the village, he would fly in helicopters as a door gunner. “We did flare drops at night to clean up the area for the ground troops.”

Calhoun was discharged in 1970. He spent several years “doing nothing, just bouncing around from job to job.” He lived in Florida and his father joined him, but after his father’s death, his grandmother asked him to come home to western Pennsylvania. Eventually, an aunt convinced him to try Ellsworth.

In 1980, his cousin introduced him to a local girl. He and Donna have now been married 45 years.

In 1984, he was picking up jobs in construction and carpentry when Donna’s co-worker at General Motors advised that the Youngstown Air Reserve Station was looking for mechanics. Calhoun joined the Air Force Reserves and became an Air Reserve technician and crew chief for the C-130 transport planes. “They’re still out there and still going strong. They’ll outlast a lot of people,” Calhoun said.

He journeyed to many foreign countries. He participated in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, as well as the war in Afghanistan after 9 / 11.

Calhoun is also the designer of the logo for the 910th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. He portrayed a bulldog with a wrench clenched in its teeth.

In 2007, Calhoun turned 60, which meant he had to retire.

“But I didn’t really retire because I’m still doing everything I can for the veterans.” he said.

For several years, he has been active in VFW Post 9571 in Ellsworth. He said it is not a large post, but besides hosting two fish fries each month post members perform many funerals. Calhoun has operated the bugle insert to play taps.

Last year he was appointed to the Veterans Service Commission. There he studies applications for aid.

“We decide if they need the assistance. We help as many as possible.”

Calhoun believes military service can be valuable for anyone.

“It changes your whole outlook. If you don’t know what to do with your life, go to the military. You’ll find out what to do,” Calhoun said. “I wouldn’t hesitate to go again.”