Serving proudly
By Larry Meyer - Argus Observer
Monday, October 8, 2007 11:20 AM PDT
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| American Legion Post No. 67 Chaplain Jack McEntyre, Ontario, receives the Honorable Service Medal from Allen W. Walker, a board member of Veterans of Oregon and Members of the Community, which sponsors the medal, Saturday at a ceremony honoring local veterans at John J. Easly Gymnasium at the Treasure Valley Community College campus. |
ONTARIO - H.W. “Jack” McIntyre, Ontario, is a visible and essential part of any service or ceremony conducted by the American Legion Post No. 67 in Ontario.
McIntyre holds the position of chaplain, a duty he’s held ever since the post was reactivated about 10 years ago. Although he said he was born and raised in North Dakota, McIntyre is a longtime Ontario resident, having worked for the NACA trucking firm for 33 years before he retired.
McIntyre is also a Korean War Veteran.
“I joined the National Guard in North Dakota when I was 16. We were one of the units to be activated when the Korean War began in 1950,” he said. “We left the States in 1951.”
He said he started out doing one thing when he arrived in Korea but ended up doing something else.
“I was in combat engineers,” McIntyre said. “But, I was a cook.”
All the cooks were being rotated out while he was on KP duty, and when an officer complained there was nobody to cook, McIntyre volunteered. He came close to combat when he took meals to the troops out on the front lines.
“I tried to get a hot meal to the troops at least every other day,” he said.
It was not uncommon for the enemy to fire mortar rounds when he was delivering food, he said.
“We cooked from scratch,” McIntyre said. “They (the military) shipped in the ingredients and we put them together.”
The food was the same troops were given at home, except it was dehydrated or canned, not fresh, McIntyre said.
He was only in the Korean conflict, posted with the 24th Infantry Division, seven months.
“They rotated the whole division out to Japan,” he said, where he was stationed for three months before finally heading back to the states, where he was released from active duty.
Once he returned to the United States, McIntyre was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash. He said he found he liked the Northwest and he decided to find out more about the region as a civilian.
He moved to Portland where he worked at service stations, until he heard about an opening an NACA.
From there, he said he drove eight years coast to coast, then up and down the West Coast, until he retired after 25 years.
A member of the American Legion for about 17 years, McIntyre said he became active 10 years ago when state Legion officials began traveling around Oregon to reactivate Legion Posts which were not functioning. Two people showed up at that first meeting. McIntyre said the other person as installed as commanded and he was installed as chaplain.
“That was the way the post was rejuvenated,” he said.
While he does participate at funeral services for veterans, sometimes in conjunction with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, McIntyre said the Ontario Post plans to have a funeral squad in the future, which would include a rifle squad and members to fold the flag and present it to a deceased’s family.
Having the position of chaplain is something that McIntyre now shares with his wife, Ruthie, who is chaplain of the newly formed American Legion Auxiliary.
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