JENISON — A local Vietnam veteran will get the honor of a lifetime this September when he and his son are flown to Washington, D.C., completely free of charge. 

Two years ago, Bruce Burkel and his family applied for Honor Flight, a nonprofit that organizes trips for veterans to see the capital’s memorial sites. After making it to the top of a 1,100-person waitlist, he and 74 other veterans will make the trip, along with their travel companions. 

Burkel was born and raised in Bay City. He graduated from high school in 1967, and volunteered for the draft after deciding he didn’t feel ready for college. He joined the Army in January 1968, and enlisted for an extra year to become a radio repairman following basic training. 

He was stationed in Germany for just under a year, and was sent to Vietnam in June 1969. He was initially stationed with the 1st Signal Brigade outside of Saigon, which managed all communications across Southeast Asia. He said that this was “pretty good duty as far as duty in Vietnam went” and had barracks and “enlisted men” clubs. Because there weren’t any field radios to repair at their base, he worked as a perimeter guard. 

“The biggest thing that I ever saw was the jackrabbits through the Starlight scope. They’d set off flares periodically, which would startle you.” 

After two months with the 1st Signal Brigade, he was sent to the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta to repair radio equipment. He was eventually sent into the field with them, where he spent another six months. 

“I was given a truck and a bunch of parts. Me and five other people were told go follow this infantry company around. Wherever they go, we go.”

The 9th Infantry Division was a very different experience from the 1st Signal Brigade. Now, Burkel ate C-rations and slept under a tarp draped over a truck. His company was mortared frequently, both at the base and in the field. Still, Burkel said that they were never totally under attack and he felt very fortunate for his placement when compared to others. 

“They claimed that we had attacks on occasion, but when you’re surrounded by an infantry company you’re pretty well protected.” 

Burkel was sent home in October 1970, after another month with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

He married his wife, Jackie, in 1972, and they raised two kids together. He earned an electrical engineering degree from Lake Superior State University, and initially worked designing systems for aircraft and rockets. Eventually, he shifted over to circuitry design for automatic guided vehicles and worked at Rapistan (now Dematic) for 30 years. He retired as the department head for upgrades and modernization.

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Now enjoying retirement, Burkel looks forward to visiting Washington for the very first time. Alongside his son Joel, he will see all of the memorials honoring those who served, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. 

“It’s an honor. It’s a privilege. So few people actually get to go and do that,” Burkel said.

The group will fly out of Flint on Sept. 16, and spend a day and night in the capital. 

The Honor Flight Network was founded in 2005 by Earl Morse and Jeff Miller to provide trips for World War II veterans. They gradually expanded to include those who served in Korea and Vietnam, or are disabled. Twenty years on, they have flown over 300,000 veterans to Washington, and have 46,000 more waitlisted across 128 local hubs. They are primarily donor funded and volunteer run. 

More information can be found at honorflight.org.

— Contact Lee Marentette at newsroom@ottawanewsnetwork.org.