LINDENWOOD — Steve Korth of Lindenwood served in the United States Army from 1966-1969 during the Vietnam era as a wheeled vehicle mechanic at Pruem Air Force Base in Germany.

Korth was born in Minnesota and grew up in the Genoa-Kingston area. He graduated from Genoa-Kingston High School in 1965. After high school, he signed up for a nine-month automotive mechanics program, which would help him later on in his military service. 

At the same time, Korth worked at LaCroix Optical in Kirkland, which made glass optics for telescopes, microscopes, and all sorts of test equipment. That was considered a critical occupation and Korth’s employer applied for a draft exemption for him amid the Vietnam War. Korth received his draft notice the same week his exemption came through, and he decided to enlist in the Army. He would serve from Sept. 6, 1966 to Sept. 6, 1969. 

Despite his exemption, Korth felt it was his duty to serve. His grandfather served in World War I. His father and three of his uncles served in World War II, with one uncle giving his life when his plane went down off the coast of Okinawa. Korth entered the service on the same day, Sept. 6, 21 years after his uncle lost his life. 

“My dad was in WWII and never talked about it,” Korth said. “Even when I went to Germany in the same area he was in, he was very reserved about talking to me about it. I thought he'd ask about it or towns where he built bridges there as an engineer. For some reason, he just didn't want to talk about it. Service was important in our house and at the time I felt it was my duty to go and it was my time. Because my father's generation was all about WWII and my friends’ dads were in it too and we all knew about it, we were closer to it than I think kids are today. My generation came up with the saying of, 'That's what you do. You serve your country.' It was the patriotic thing to do.”

Upon entering the military, Korth signed up for helicopter maintenance. After that school was booked up, he switched to wheeled vehicle mechanics. Korth went to basic training for eight weeks at Fort Campbell, Kentucky before going to Fort Knox in Kentucky for wheeled vehicle mechanics training. There he saw the same course materials as he did back home after high school, and graduated at the top of his class of 220. 

At his graduation formation, the first sergeant called the enlisted Regular Army names of Korth and two others and said they’d be going to Germany. The other 217 graduates were going to Vietnam. Korth had avoided the dangers of Vietnam, but said he didn’t think much of it at the time. 

“I had originally signed up for helicopter maintenance, and I knew that was a ticket to Vietnam,” Korth said. “That's why they have young kids join the Army, because they think they're invincible. It didn't bother me one way or another at the time whether or not I went to Vietnam. I was more worried about silly things like what kind of clothes I should take. We had people in Germany that got bored with it and put in for transfers to go to Vietnam. It wasn't a thought at the time, how lucky I was. As I look back on it, that was a pretty fortunate thing that happened to me.”

Pruem, Germany is a small village in the Eifel Mountains where the Battle of the Bulge took place in WWII. In his time there, Korth saw cemeteries and monuments from the battle and war. 

Korth served in the 447th Signal Battalion, and its companies were operational NATO support units and its radio network was in place in case of hostilities flaring up. The Berlin Wall had just been built six years prior and things in Europe were not as settled as anyone would have liked. 

When Korth got to Germany, he chose to be assigned to A company and soon after received a promotion to sergeant, E5 and motor sergeant in charge of the A company motor pool. The motor pool’s responsibility was to keep vehicles and generators at multiple sites ready and running. Korth traveled all over Europe in his work. 

“A notable example was that our Station in Hoek Van, Holland was right on the beach on the North Sea Coast some 200 miles to the north,” Korth said. “They only had generator power from three large generators. They would rotate these generators to provide redundant power. When one of these failed or required overhaul, we had to go to Kaiserslautern, pick up a replacement, take it 300 miles to Holland, and make the exchange. Then we took the faulty generator 300 miles back to Kaiserslautern for rebuilding before returning to Pruem. This 800-mile trip was nonstop, changing drivers, sleeping and eating in the truck, stopping only for fuel. Our meals on these trips were WWII C rations, sometimes heated in the can on the manifold of our truck! Thankfully this didn't happen often, but we had to be ready when it did!”

With 18 months left in his enlistment, Korth was allowed to live off post due to his rank and had an apartment in the town of Pruem, which he said was an enjoyable experience with his German friends. 

“I got out in August 1969,” Korth said. “In July 1969 was when they landed on the moon. My roommate and I had apartments upstairs and our landlord came up and woke us up and said there was something we had to see. It was on television. We saw the moon landing in Germany in a German's living room. That was kind of special.”

Korth had an opportunity to stay in Europe working for a Department of the Army Civilian Company, but chose to come home and attend college. He enrolled at Kishwaukee College in 1969, where he met his wife of almost 53 years, Kathy. The couple settled in Lindenwood and raised two daughters. Korth went back to his old job at LaCroix. 

“Being promoted to the motor sergeant was a sense of responsibility and that's where I got my first taste of leadership and being responsible for other people and what they did,” Korth said. 

“That served me well later in life. I was in various management roles throughout the rest of my career and I think that military experience was important.”

At Kish, Korth started the first Veterans Club in 1969-1970, which wouldn’t be his last work in veteran service organizations. Years later, he joined the Rochelle American Legion Post and has served in every leadership rank within it. 

“Volunteerism is in short supply these days,” Korth said. “We were always taught growing up that you have a responsibility to give back to the community. Now, the Legion is struggling because the younger folks don't need a fraternal organization to join anymore with so much going on. I spent about six years working with the local Veterans Assistance Commission until we got it firmly established a year ago for Ogle County. It's important to keep these organizations going.”

Honoring Our American Hero is a series that will print twice a month in the News-Leader. If you know an American Hero you would like to have featured, contact Jeff Helfrich at jhelfrich@rochellenews-leader.com or call 815-561-2151.