GUERNSEY COUNTY VETERANS COUNCIL
HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED
Commander’s View
End of an Era
In August 1944, at twenty-one years of age, Don Tedrick was drafted into the Army and left the family farm in Antrim. After seventeen weeks of training at Camp Blanding, Florida, Don was assigned as a heavy weapons crewman using the heavy water cooled machine gun and 81mm mortar. He sailed aboard the Isle De France troop ship from Boston in January of 1945 and immediately was sent to France as part of the replacements of the 42nd Infantry Division to reinforce the Division that had suffered 150 captured, 690 killed, and 2,512 wounded in the “Battle of the Bulge”. In Wurzburg, Germany the battalion was involved in a bitter fight with the Germans. During the battle the unit was surrounded but was able to defeat the enemy with artillery support. Following the battle, Don found a German soldier, killed by the artillery barrage, lying in a doorway. On the soldiers back he found a pouch with a 35mm camera in it. Don carried the camera with him the rest of the war and used it to take two photo albums full of pictures. Some of the pictures chronicle the capture of Dachau prison camp in April 1945. Don, like so many other WWII veterans does not talk about what he accomplished, but for heroism in action near Arnstein, Germany, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Don returned to the family farm in Antrim following the war and worked it for seven years before going to work for the Postal Service. He carried mail for forty-two years. He also was a member for forty years of the Ohio State Highway Patrol Auxiliary.
In 1947, shortly after returning home, Don began providing Military Funeral Honors as a member of the Antrim American Legion. When the Guernsey County Veterans Council was formed in the early 1980s, Don joined the group and continued what he had begun doing with the Antrim American Legion. In his 71 years of service both in Antrim and as a member of the Council, he has provided Funeral Honors for over 6,400 “Brothers and Sisters- In-Arms” and has missed very few funerals. At 96 “years young” he has served as an inspiration to the families that he served and the members of The Guernsey County Veterans Council that he mentored.
On September 11, 2018, Don informed me that he needed to step down from active participation in the Council’s activities. At a funeral service on September 8th, Don was overcome by the 95 degree heat and needed to be placed in the front seat of the air conditioned hearse to completely regain consciousness. My first encounter with Don was on December 4, 2002. It was the first time I performed taps as part of the Council. The service was at Guernsey Memory Gardens near the top of the hill. The weather was a mix of freezing rain and sleet with a temperature of around 35 degrees and winds gusting around 35 MPH. WWII Veterans made up the majority of the Honor Guard. As I stood waiting to do my part, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Then I looked up the hill at Don and the other members of the firing party. I watched the ice forming on their arms and rifles. I watched them stand completely still ignoring the weather in honor of the deceased Veteran and I knew I had to be part of this! We like to say that the WWII era people were this Country’s greatest generation. If Don is an example, then that statement cannot be denied! We all must take a lesson from him and dedicate our lives to serving our fellow man. He will be greatly missed!
Jim Gibson Commander Guernsey County Veterans Council
