Scottsdale judge/war hero leads vet parade

Nov. 5—An inch one way or the other, Col. Herbert Pierpan will tell you, is the difference between being honored on Memorial Day and being above ground to celebrate Veterans Day.

The modest Scottsdale resident — and Scottsdale City Court judge — breezed over his war injuries during an interview about his selection as a grand marshal for the Phoenix Veterans Day parade this Saturday.

Turns out there is an underlying message to the judge having a "High Noon" movie poster in his chambers. Like Gary Cooper's character, Pierpan is tough but mild-mannered and almost painfully modest.

During the interview, for example, Pierpan does not mention he received a Navy Cross, one of the military's highest honors.

On March 20, 1969, Pierpan was a major in the U.S. Marine Corps when, according to his Navy Cross description, he led a combat group helicoptered into a "hot" area.

"As the Marines landed they came under a heavy volume of mortar, small-arms and automatic weapons fire, and their lead elements were pinned down by hostile soldiers occupying well-fortified bunkers overlooking the landing zone," according to the Navy Cross narrative.

Pierpan "shouted words of encouragement to his men," leading them onward in the face of heavy fire.

"When his comrade was seriously wounded, Major Pierpan seized the man's weapon and boldly assaulted a bunker, killing two North Vietnamese soldiers."

As Pierpan attacked, a grenade exploded just in front of him.

"Ignoring his painful injury, he resolutely continued his determined efforts until the bunker was destroyed. When his commanding officer was mortally wounded on the following morning, Major Pierpan unhesitatingly assumed command and, maneuvering his men with skill and daring, continued to lead the battalion against the enemy."

Unexpected honor

This Veterans Day, 50-plus years after leading troops into the teeth of war, he will lead a parade as grand marshal.

Pierpan settled into civilian life in Virginia after the war. Twenty-three years ago, he fled East Coast winters for Scottsdale — where he used his military court experience to become a city judge, with a caseload dominated by traffic ticket and parking cases.

Pierpan, the middle of three military brothers (older brother was a tanker in the Army, younger brother in intelligence with the Marines), lives in North Scottsdale with Elda, his wife of 47 years.

They met on a blind date.

A blind call informed him he was chosen as one of the 2023 Phoenix Veterans Parade grand marshals.

"I was completely surprised — I knew absolutely nothing about it," the city judge said.

He later found out how it happened:

"My best friend who I taught at the Naval Academy nominated me. Never said a word to me about it."

Thank you, Bill Sichko.

Pierpan's pal understood this was a man who doesn't like to talk about himself, though he has quite a story.

At 84, he says he has always been fascinated with the military.

"I was a youth during World War II and really got involved as best I could," he recalled. "... I was always enthralled with the Marines."

After an officer training program in college, he went on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps in 1959. Four years later, Pierpan went to Vietnam as an advisor, helping train South Vietnamese soldiers.

In 1968, he returned to Vietnam, where the "conflict" had escalated to a full-scale war.

"War is war," he said, stoically. "You have your bad memories — but I think the good memories survive over the bad memories.

"Of course, death is never popular. I regret not having some of my fellow Marines come home.

"The good memories are the camaraderie. We were out in the field a lot, fighting, but we never had a drug problem."

His troops, he said, "really looked after each other."

What will he be thinking about, as he looks over the cheering crowd on Veterans Day?

"All the fellow Marines that did not come home, that were killed in action."

He saw many of his friends bleed to death on the battlefield — and could have been one of the fallen, as he was wounded three times.

"Two of those times, I should have been killed," he said.

He was hit by shrapnel from a grenade and a mortar. "Then, I was hit in the leg by a bullet."

Somehow, nearly 55 years later, he has no ill effects from his war wounds.

"My health is fine," he said. "I'm still working and I don't have any problems getting around."

After chuckling, he added, "But I can't do what I did in the Marines — that's for sure."

After serving in Vietnam, he was the special assistant and Marine Corps aide to the Secretary of the Navy, James H Webb, Jr. He then worked for a defense contractor in Fairfax, Virginia, before escaping the bone-chilling winters for Arizona.

At an age when many around Scottsdale are snugly retired and have their biggest daily decisions on where to buy groceries, Pierpan reports to the courthouse every weekday, deciding on which excuses he is buying.

He has been a hearing officer and judge at Scottsdale City Court since 2000.

"I handle all civil cases, mainly traffic, zoning, parking," he said.

He noted he is not a trained attorney, but "went through Naval Justice School and taught Naval Justice — so I have that legal experience."

City hearing officers are not required to have law degrees.

Does Judge Pierpan hear a lot of excuses?

"For speeding, I think I've heard them all," he said with a laugh.

The best: "I never speed."

The other day, a woman admitted she parked in a handicap zone, but wanted the judge to rip up her ticket. "I was only there for a minute," she pleaded.

Like the laconic, fair-but-tough Gary Cooper, Judge Pierpan had one word: "Nope."

Not on his watch, ma'am.

Parade of honor

The Phoenix Veterans Day parade, sponsored by Honoring America's Veterans, will be held 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11.

The parade starts at Bethany Home Road, heading south on Central Avenue before turning east on Camelback Road to Seventh Street, ending on Seventh and Devonshire Avenue.

The parade also features:

—Korean War Veteran Grand Marshal, Lt. Jerry Hecht, who lives in Sun Lakes. While in the Navy, he completed three deployments to the western Pacific, at times operating off the coast of the Korean Peninsula at the height of the Korean War.

—Desert Storm/Persian Gulf War Veteran Grand Marshal, Patricia Little Upah, who lives in Tempe. She is a retired U.S. Army nurse who served in the Vietnam War — and then, 23 years later, with the 403rd Combat U.S. Army Support Hospital in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm in 1991. After military service, she worked as the CEO of Banner Behavioral Health Hospital for a decade.

—Celebrity Grand Marshal, Kim Alexis, who lives in Scottsdale. In the 1980s, she was one of the first "supermodels," beaming from more than 500 magazine covers, including Vogue, Harper's, Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Glamour.