The Kosciusko County Commissioners honored the Veteran of the Month at its May 19 meeting.

D.J. Harris received the honor in May. Harris was born and raised in Pierceton. He graduated from Pierceton High School in 1964.

Harris enlisted in the US Army and served in Vietnam from 1965 until 1968 as a heavy equipment operator with the 9th Division 15 Combat Engineers. He did basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky and advanced individual training at Fort Leonardwood, Mo.

After training he was shipped to the northeast side of Saigon, where he built barracks, mess halls and bridges, as well as clearing jungle. “You guys were either building it or blowing it up,” remarked Veteran’s Affairs Officer Rich Maron.

Harris recalled a particularly memorable assignment while working in Vietnam. He said one morning he was woken up and told to go to the arms room to be issued an M60. Once armed, he and other soldiers were packed onto a helicopter and flown into the mountains.

“We looked like regular Rambos coming out of there,” Harris said. The soldiers were dropped at the top of a mountain where bombers had just taken out a tunnel complex. Harris and the other soldiers were sent up to finish the demolition.

The soldiers dug in and set up camp for the night. One of the other soldiers reported hearing something out in the jungle. This set the soldiers on edge, and finally one of the soldiers fired his weapon. As a result, all of the soldiers on top of the mountain opened fire.

Luckily, the hail of gunfire didn’t give away the soldiers’ position, and Harris didn’t report finding any enemies on the mountain top. The next morning the soldiers finished their demolition, and headed back down the mountain.