Local firefighters who are veterans recently shared some of their reflections on serving their country.
Jack Moon is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He has been a member of the Clarks Summit Fire Company twice. The first time was for 17 years and the second 11 years. He is still a member.
“I was born and raised in Carbondale. I joined the Navy to travel the world. I was never on a ship,” he said.
He went to boot camp and Gunnery School at Naval Station Great Lakes near Chicago. He was also stationed at Army hospitals in Japan and New Jersey. He was also at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Moon received special forces river boat training and was sent to Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam. as a member of a five-person crew.
The boat was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and he was injured, later receiving a Purple Heart.
“I enjoyed my time in the service and got to see different parts of the country,” Moon said.
Warren Watkins has been a member of the Clarks Summit Fire Company for 60 years. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army.
He received basic training at Fort Ord in California and then went to Fort Bliss in Texas. He finished his service in a NIKE Battalion in Pittsburgh.
“I was at Westmminster College and was going to be drafted when I was finished. I had to keep my grades up and go for deferment tests. I graduated from college in June and went right into the Army. My grandfather William W. Watkins was in the Army so maybe that is why I chose the Army to serve. I always wanted to go overseas but I was told that I was needed to protect the city of Pittsburgh. I did my duty defending Pittsburgh. I met a lot of people in the service and still remain in contact with a few of them.”
Douglas Craig Jr. has been a member of the Clarks Summit Fire Company for 37 years and a veteran of the United States Air Force. He was stationed at Dyess Air Force base in Texas and Osan Air Base in South Korea.
“I responded to an airplane crash and was the crew chief on the rescue truck. I received the highest peace time award from the Air Force the Airman Medal for my participation in that event.”
Craig works for the DPW in Clarks Summit.
“I graduated from high school and then joined the United States Navy,” said Dave Gilpin a Clarks Summit firefighter “I remembered President John Kennedy’s speech that said ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.’ Those words stuck in my heart.”
He went to basic training at Great Lakes Chicago and the served on the USS Oxbord. He went to South America and then was traveling back to Norfolk Virginia. “We were being diverted to Africa and no one knew why We were being sent to Vietnam. It was the comrade of the people on the ship. I made friends with them.”
Several years after leaving the Navy, he joined the Navy Reserves serving in the Iraq Freedom in Cuba.
Gilpin served six active years with the Navy and 23 in the Naval Reserves.
He recalled being out at sea to pick up replacements when mortar rounds hit.
“If we would have been there earlier then we would have been in it.”
He has been a member of the Clarks Summit Fire Company for 52 years.
Christopher Yarns is the police chief of Clarks Summit and a veteran of the Air Force.
He was stationed at Lakeland Air Force Base in San Antonia Texas, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and in Italy.
“When you are growing up, you gain a lot of skills and life experiences. You are a different person when you come out of the military then when you went in.”
George Yarns is a veteran of the United States Air Force and a 69-year member of the Clarks Summit Fire Company.
He went to basic training at Fort Sam Houston Air Force Base. He then went to F. E. Warren Air Force and then Robins Air Base in Georgia.
“I graduated from high school on a Friday and then was in the military on Monday. I was stationed in Alaska and during that time was being stationed out of the country.”
After his service with the Air Force, he reenlisted with the Army National Guard for seven years.
Herman Johnson was a part time Clarks Summit Police Officer for 15 years. He also was on the Clarks Summit Borough Council, was the director of the Emergency Management Agency and was mayor of Clarks Summit.
He is a veteran of the U.S. Marines. He went to basic training at Parris Island in South Carolina. He spent time at the Panama Canal Zone and Vietnam.
“I wanted to do my part as a young man to protect our country. There are a lot of police officers, firefighters, EMTs and council members in the Abington’s who were veterans and who passed away. We should be proud of what they did for their country and they are very important to the community.”
Mark Dougherty is a South Abington Twp council member, a member of the Chinchilla Fire Company and a veteran.
Bill Toms, a member of the Clarks Green Council, also is a veteran.
