WARSAW — Lifelong Warsaw resident Gary VanKirk was named November Veteran of the Month Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting.

VanKirk joined the Navy in 1964 in the midst of the Vietnam War. He started his training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois before going to submarine school in New London, Conn.

VanKirk was dismissed from submarine school after it was discovered he did not have the ability to equalize his inner ear pressure when being tested in a decompression chamber. Because of this, his orders were changed and he was ordered to Norfolk, Va., to serve on the destroyer USS Putnam, DD757.

VanKirk spent the remainder of his four-year enlistment on the Putnam, with an exception of four months of Destroyermen School aboard the USS Hartley in Rhode Island where he was trained as a machinist mate.

Upon arriving back in Norfolk to the Putnam, VanKirk was assigned the forward engine room where he was a “throttleman” in charge of opening and closing the throttle wheel that sped up or slowed the ship. He also had other duties, including two four-hour watches a day and doing cleaning and repairs.

During his service, VanKirk pulled in to ports in Italy, Spain, French Morocco, Malta, Nova Scotia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands.

After four years of service, VanKirk returned to Warsaw and spent his next 30 years working for Sprint. He has two daughters and a son who live with their spouses in the Indianapolis area. VanKirk just welcomed his 10th grandchild.