Correspondent photo / Amanda C. Davis Dan Rivers of Boardman reflects on his time in the service while standing in his garage, which is outfitted with memorabilia from Vietnam and his time in local broadcasting.

BOARDMAN — Dan Rivers has always had a thing about controlling his own destiny.

That’s why, he said, he raised his hand for service when many young men were being called up for duty during the Vietnam War.

Rivers, 76, is a well-known voice in the Valley, having spent a good portion of his professional career hosting a morning talk show on 570 WKBN.

He graduated high school in 1966 in Northwest Ohio and went on to do two tours in Vietnam, as a Seabee in the U.S. Naval Construction Forces.

Volunteering for service at a time when many young men were being drafted enabled Rivers to pursue a craft familiar to him — carpentry. Those who volunteered had better control over their circumstances and more choice than those who were drafted, he said.

“I always felt bad for the people who were taken off the streets with no options,” he said of the draft.

Growing up, he worked in his family’s construction business and considered himself a poor student.

“I didn’t love school,” he said, adding that his dream, early on, was to be a broadcaster.

Rivers’ dad had been a staff sergeant in the Air Force and was lost in China for five weeks after jumping out of a plane during World War II.

He recalls growing up at the American Legion and said his dad always flew the flag proudly at their home in Columbus Grove.

Rivers considers himself patriotic but said he was “politically ignorant” when he left for Vietnam in 1968.

He spent eight months there and came home for six, returning to Vietnam a second time before finishing up service in 1970.

In total, about 58,000 American service members were lost during the war, Rivers said.

“While I was happy to serve and proud of the work I did in Vietnam, it raised a lot of questions when I got out,” he said.

Although he saw plenty in his time there, Rivers said he fared better than many of the men with whom he served. He has great respect for those who were drafted and those who saw active combat, day after day, he added.

Rivers was stationed in Dong Ha and was one of 750 men on base.

“We took our M-16’s and grenade launchers to work but we weren’t totally under attack,” he said. “But our base was pretty much mortared every night.”

The most severe injury he endured was a broken wrist from falling off a building while constructing houses for the Vietnamese.

“I had it much better than most people in Vietnam,” he said. “I came out pretty much unscathed.”

Rivers spent about two years in Vietnam, serving two separate stints between 1968 and 1970.

Rivers, who has a wife, Cheryl, three sons and seven grandchildren, returned to the family business after serving and used $1,000 he saved to put toward trade school in Columbus, where he studied broadcasting.

He got jobs at radio stations throughout Ohio, working first in Marysville, before moving onto Delaware, Coshocton and Toledo.

He then took a job at a station in Detroit and spent four days at a station in Waynesboro, Pa. before getting a call about an opening in Youngstown. He began working for WFMJ around 1973 and said the G.I. Bill helped him pay for college.

Rivers, who said he didn’t consider himself “college material,” studied advertising and graduated in 1980 from Youngstown State University.

“I majored in shooting pool and drinking beer,” he joked.

He worked as a disc jockey for a time, before moving into management and sales.

He said one of the most important things to happen in his life was when the Williamson family hired him at WKBN because education was important to the family, and he learned a lot during that time.

He worked for them from 1980 to 1999, and then for iHeart Radio when that company took over.

Rivers stepped down last year after more than 40 years at the station and 20 years in the 9 a.m.-to- noon timeslot for 570 WKBN.

He was the host of the station’s morning talk show and though he loved broadcasting, he said he sometimes regrets being “too driven by work.”

Rivers is enjoying retired life and said his hobbies include golfing, getting together with friends, attending political events and traveling.

Although he grew up in Northwest Ohio, Rivers said he’s always loved living in the Youngstown area.

“I’ve been rooting for this community for a long time,” he added.