by Frank Lee
news@thenewsleaders.com
Ken Schulte believes he would not be the man he is today if it were not for his enlistment in the Army during the Vietnam War.
“It was probably one of the most maturing things I’ve done in my life – really showed me the benefit of working with people and helped me to become an independent person and be able to help others as well,” he said.
The 65-year-old veteran from Sartell is a financial advisor with Edward Jones in St. Cloud who had enlisted in the Army because his friends had talked him into it, he said.
“I was part of the St. Cloud platoon in 1968 where 55 of us enlisted on the same day, and I would say wartime casualties took probably about eight to 10 of us,” Schulte said.
“But it was back when a lot of us felt what we were doing in the fight against communism was the right thing at the time, but I think the world has changed since then.”
Casualties
More than 303,000 people from the United States were wounded during the war in Southeast Asia.
“I was subjected to Agent Orange, which has become an issue in my later years in life,” he said. “Agent Orange was something that was put down during the Vietnam War to kill the jungle but in the long term it also killed a lot of veterans.”
Schulte drove an armored personnel carrier in the 25th Infantry Division when he was in the Army from 1968-1971 and spoke of his comrades in arms with some fondness.
“It was just a matter of being a member of a group of people who kept vigil for each other the whole time we were there,” he said.
Schulte gave several presentations as a veteran on Veterans’ Day this year at local elementary schools and nursing homes.
“Veterans’ Day to me is a time that I reflect back on the guys I served with,” he said. “I reflect on the guys who weren’t able to come back with me, but I also reflect on the guys who are still battling the things from the war that have taken a toll on their lives.”
Veterans’ Day
Schulte was a volunteer firefighter with the Sartell Fire Department for more than two decades before he recently retired and keeps mementos of the Vietnam War around him.
“There’s a lot of people that – for history’s purpose – won’t ever be remembered, and the pictures help me remember those guys who were there for me,” he said.
Schulte is a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Sauk Rapids.
“The reception I initially received in the United States after Vietnam was horrible,” he said. “I was asked to take my uniform off in Oakland, Calif., when I came home, and told I could put it back on when I got back to Minneapolis. Today they say, ‘Thank you,’ which I think is one of the greatest things anybody can do. Every day they see a veteran, just tell them thank you for their service, and that means more to any veteran than any medal he owns.”
Ken Schulte, 65, Sartell, enlisted in the Army because his friends had talked him into it, he said. He served in the Vietnam War.
Vietnam War veteran Ken Schulte of Sartell drove an armored personnel carrier in the 25th Infantry Division when he was in the Army from 1968-1971.
Ken Schulte (left) is a 65-year-old Vietnam War veteran from Sartell who was part of the St. Cloud platoon in 1968 when 55 men enlisted on the same day.
Ken Schulte, 65, Sartell, a financial advisor with Edward Jones, keeps mementos from his military service in Vietnam in his St. Cloud office.
