 | Frank Bergquist graduated from Eddyville, IA, high school in 1958. After graduation, he entered the Army, serving 20 years in Missouri, Maryland, New Mexico, Germany, Iowa, Turkey, Kansas, S.E. Asia, and finally retiring in 1978 in Louisiana. Before retiring, Frank was assigned as an ROTC instructor at WSU and Kemper Military School until 1974. In 1978 he served as the Non-Commissioned officer in charge of operations at Fort Polk, LA. He has served as the Veterans Counselor (DVOP) with the Kansas Job Service Center National Service Office, with the Disabled American Veterans at the VA Regional Office in Wichita; Veterans Employment and Training Coordinator with the US Dept. of Labor at Ft. Riley, KS; Service Coordinator with Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation; Dept Adjutant-Treasurer and the Dept. Executive Director Dept. of Kansas Disabled American Veterans; and past President of the Wichita Civil War Round Table. Currently he is doing graduate work as an instructor in Genealogy and Military History at Wichita State and Kansas State Universities, and is the CEO for the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Stores in Wichita, KS. Bergquist has an AA from Kemper Military School and College from Boonville, MO. and a BGS from Wichita State University. He can be reached by telephone at 316-262-6501. He is located at 926 N. Mosley Wichita 67214. |
Veteran Affairs
2008-04-01 12:10:00
Serving your country
Answer: Talk about feeling old. I received a notice about my fifty year High School reunion. It doesn’t feel like it was fifty years ago that I graduated from High School in 1958. In looking over some of the literature from the reunion, I was not the only one who enlisted in the service. At least two enlisted in the Navy and then I enlisted in the army. All three of us made careers of the service. This is what we did back in the fifties. I can remember turning 18 and getting a day off of school in order to register for the draft. The local draft board was in Ottumwa, Iowa. I had to hitch hike over and back. This was when it was still safe to travel that way. I don’t know how my classmates did it. But we all registered for the draft.
Even more shocking was the number of my classmates who have died. I had to search for my High School annual, to check the photos and refresh my memory. I was exchanging emails with one of them, when I stopped getting responses. I didn’t think much about it, until now, when I found out she had passed away. My graduating class was a grand total of twenty-seven members. Some of them cannot be found. There are about twenty of us left
The idea of serving your country does not seem to be as popular as it used to be. When I enlisted in 1958 you served your country; for some they would wait to see if the draft would get them. The Army was a welcome choice for me, I had no job skills, but the Army trained me.
I was at a lot of different places and did a lot of different jobs for the Army. Some I enjoyed some I didn’t. But all in all, my military service did me a world of good. I was a young man of 18, but the Army gave me a purpose in life.
