“In honor of our veterans”

For the month of February, Steven Benson was honored for his service to our country.
Steven Benson served in Vietnam from 1969-1972 and was stationed in Central Highlands Pleikurvn Artillery Hill and was a “gun boy.” He recalls some other locals being drafted at the same time. He did his basic training in Fort Lewis, Wash. He recalls being taught to throw hand grenades, army crawl under barbed wire with a gun and much more. After basic training, Steven was sent to Fort Sill, Okla., and was taught how to set up and shoot the gun he would later operate in Vietnam. He was given the job of maintaining and caring for the dayroom for a good portion of this time due to damage being done by others. He loved this. He was able to play pool day and night.
Once in Vietnam, he feels he got lucky to be given the job and location that he was. “A lot of people had it a lot worse than I did,” Steven says. He remembers dust being inches thick on the ground and what a mess it would be when it rained. It would be packed clay that was just like ice. This caused many accidents. It would rain so hard that they could hardly get soaped up while they showered in the rain.
He would go on guard for eight to 12 hours for two weeks straight watching. When he wasn’t on guard, he was shooting shells with a 155 Howitzer (nicknamed, but not appropriate). This gun could shoot up to 11 miles away. They were called the gun bunnies and their section was the fastest around. They would have shells with a parachute and a light on it, that they would shoot during the night to light up the area for as much as 10 minutes. The intention was simply to light the area like a flare, not to damage things.
One day a dog showed up and became a pet away from home. He would go out on guard with Steven and he would growl when he smelled someone coming close in the night, to warn trouble was on the way. Steven was hopeful of bringing him home; but that would not be the case.
Steven was honorably discharged and returned to the states and spent four months in Fort Carson, Colo. He was sent home to Lake Mills, just in time for Christmas in 1972. This experience was a short time span; but seems like a lot longer than two years. Upon arriving back home, even a crack of thunder could send him out of bed running outside thinking he was under fire. His dad understood what was going on, having served in France himself.
The Top of Iowa Quilt Club sews patriotic quilts to donate to local veterans. This has been done in past years, but the club made the decision to submit an article to the Lake Mills Graphic, about one veteran who receives a quilt each month. If you know any senior veterans that have not yet received a quilt, please contact Dave Anderson or Robin Grunhovd.