Memories of war: Autryville Army veteran served during three wars
At 95 years old, retired Sgt. 1st Class Herbert Getchel is proud that he was able to serve in the Army for more than 25 years and in three wars.
Getchel, who now lives in Autryville, was drafted into the Army as a heavy equipment operator during the midst of World War II from his home state of Maine.
After 18 weeks of basic training at Camp Crowder, Missouri, Getchel went to engineering school at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
“I was standing in the chow line and another fellow and I were talking. There was a private ahead of me and he said, ‘Pvt. Getchel, I might be able to help you,' and I thought, ‘Well, you’re a private the same as me,’” Getchell said.
The following day, he and the other private went to a lieutenant's office and Getchel was told he’d be taking a test to become a heavy truck driver.
The lieutenant told him taking the test would bypass the requirements to attend the school.
During the test, Getchel overheard another soldier who said it was his third time taking it despite being able to drive the trucks.
“I thought to myself, ‘Well. here’s a fellow in the Army and he took the test on these trucks twice and he didn’t pass it, how do they expect me to pass it?'” Getchel said.
While he guessed some of the answers, Getchel said, questions about gearing and loading weren’t as daunting because he’d driven 18-wheelers in Maine prior to being drafted.
The lieutenant told him he passed the test with a 97 and that after a 10-day furlough home, Getchel would be deploying to Europe in the 1940s.
“That was during the war,” Getchel said. “So, I went right over and joined this outfit and then at the end of it, we moved into Germany and stayed there.”
World War II and Europe deployment
Getchel was assigned to the 774th Tank Destroyer Battalion, which he said was an engineer troop, and drove a truck transporting equipment “all over Europe, from Germany to England to France and Maselle, Brussels, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland,” he said.
He also supported to Berlin Airlift after the Russians closed off roads and canals into the allied areas of the German capital city.
The only planes at the time were C-47s, which took off about every three minutes, Getchel said.
“Russia agreed to open it (thoroughfares) up, and after that was when they built the wall and everything, and later on, I stayed there until '49,” Getchel said.
Getchel said it didn’t take long for him to get promoted. Within three months, he was a private first class, and before completing a year in the Army, he was soon promoted to corporal.
At one point, Getchel was sent to Heidelberg where his unit’s headquarters were.
During that time, he told a motor sergeant that he still had not obtained his driver’s license.
The motor sergeant told him anyone who could drive to Heidelberg and back their first time proved they could drive.
Getchel was upgraded from driving Jeep-sized vehicles to having a license certifying him to drive quarter-ton, half-ton and other heavier vehicles.
He was soon tasked by a lieutenant to become a motor sergeant after six different soldiers were unable to hold the job during a five-week period.
Getchel said he was told if he couldn’t do the job, he’d be demoted.
The first thing he did was request a meeting with the military drivers and asked if any of them wanted the job.
When no one raised their hand, Getchel said, he told them he’d be “running the place,” and that if someone didn’t do as they were told, he’d ensure they’d become a private in Frankfurt.
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Getchel said he was backed by the lieutenant and enforced policies on the depot's commander who brought his personal vehicle overseas but failed to bring it in for required maintenance.
He told the colonel he’d arrange for transportation, but couldn’t guarantee what type of vehicle would be available. When the colonel called the motor pool, all that was available was a 6-ton prime mover, Getchel said.
“We had so many vehicles we couldn’t dispatch because if we had an alert and had to move out, we had to have them vehicles,” Getchel said.
Getchel was later promoted to sergeant and left the motor pool to resume driving vehicles, before being in charge of a motor pool in Nuremberg.
He returned back to the States, where he was assigned to Fort Bragg and was the third soldier to join the newly created 74th Engineer Heavy Equipment Company.
The Korean War soon broke out on June 25, 1950, and the company was alerted to go to Korea, he said.
Korean War
Getchel’s said his engineer company increased from 175 enlisted troops to 218 enlisted troops, which he called “infantry strength.”
The unit deployed Aug. 1, 1950.
Getchel said he’d never seen combat until that point, but the company commander tasked him with taking two men from each platoon to stand guard that night.
Getchel told the company commander he wanted to go out for reconnaissance, which is to detect enemy activities.
Getchel said he noticed a railroad bridge over the Nakdong River was blown up, but a vehicle bridge was still intact with North Koreans being “pushed” to one side over the bridge.
Getchel said his unit remained in the area when Gen. Douglas MacArthur and troops invaded Incheon.
Getchel said his unit started working on the road toward North Korea to rebuild the railroad bridge.
He served during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, which was a 17-day battle in North Korea fought in freezing temperatures between Chinese and United Nations soldiers and resulted in thousands of causalities on both sides.
Getchel said his company called the area “the Frozen Chosin.”
“We had new equipment up to the North Korean capital, and the Chinese would come in and we’d blow that stuff up,” he said.
Getchel remained in Korea from 1950 until 1952.
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Post Korea, return to Korea and Vietnam War
He got out of the Army for 11 months in 1953 because he said a lieutenant didn’t grant him leave to go back to his home in Maine, where he’d not been since World War II.
Getchel said he reenlisted as a corporal in 1953 and was sent “straight back to Korea” as a heavy equipment operator in Incheon assigned to an engineer utility company.
Getchel said “Col. Taver” was the depot commander, while “Col. Nielson” oversaw the fire departments.
Getchel said Col. Nielson and a company commander followed behind him in a red Jeep when he was grading roads one day.
Getchel said despite a sergeant grading the roads flat, he graded from shoulder to shoulder with crowning to allow for ditch drainage.
Getchel said that after a colonel approved of his work and asked him to fix a pothole-filled road that had flooded ditches, he was recommended for a promotion after completing the task.
Getchel was placed in charge of heavy equipment and worked until contracting hepatitis and yellow jaundice that kept him in a hospital for three months.
He returned back to the States and was assigned to an engineer battalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and tested equipment in Alaska in 1956.
In 1958, he was sent with a combat engineer unit to the same area of Germany that he had served during World War II, before returning back to Fort Bragg in 1960 as a platoon sergeant.
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“When I was there in the 60s, we maintained all of the jump zones,” Getchel said. “We supported airborne, and if they alerted, the engineers loaded the equipment on the planes.”
In 1962, Getcehl spent six months in South America as a military advisor for his unit.
He returned to Korea for a third time in 1964.
Getchel earned an Army commendation medal during peacetime while serving as a construction machine supervisor from January 1965 until September 1966 with the B Company, 2nd Engineer Group, 8th U.S. Army Support Command.
Getchel’s citation states he helped supervise the reclaiming of more than 900 acres of farmland and for being part of a project that helped 240 displaced Korean families.
“He trained and developed a local Korean service element and directed their efforts in conjunction with his own operation,” the citation states.
Getchel’s military service continued with two deployments during the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1969.
He was also awarded a Bronze Star for “meritorious achievement in ground operations against hostile forces,” while serving with an engineer unit from October 1967 until September 1968.
Getchel retired as a sergeant first class in 1971.
He said he was recommended for a promotion, but at the time, the Army only authorized having 29 first sergeants within his military job code.
Getchel returned to Maine and worked as a Ford mechanic for three years, before paving roads for a school district for 19 years.
His first wife Margaret, who was originally from North Carolina, died in a car accident in Red Springs in 1952 that also involved his wife's friend and the friend's soldier boyfriend from Fort Bragg. The soldier was also killed.
Getchel was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, at the time of the accident.
He had two sons with his second wife, and lived in Florida in the mid-2000s operating a home maintenance business with his third wife, Joan, until the couple moved to Autryville.
Getchel now enjoys gardening and still drives himself places.
In 2011, he and his fellow soldiers were recognized by the Korean government for their service to the country.
“I really enjoyed the military and what I did,” Getchel said.
Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: 95-year-old Army veteran remembers World War II, Korean and Vietnam wars
