Roger Oppenhuizen

Roger Oppenhuizen was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1946. After completing college in 1968, he enlisted in the Army to stay ahead of the draft, and signed up for Officer Candidate School. He did his basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then trained as a combat engineer at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. The Army assigned him to Infantry OCS instead of Finance, so he decided not to enter the program, so he was sent directly to Vietnam as a combat engineer in May, 1969. In Vietnam, he served with D Company, 35th Engineer Battalion, which was based at Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta and working on constructing a two-lane highway connecting the Delta to Saigon. For the first three months, Oppenhuizen worked on constructing the highway. However, because he knew how to type, Oppenhuizen eventually moved up to the company headquarters first to replace the operations sergeant while he was on leave, and then to replace the departing company clerk.

[@bruceadams9542]

Thank you Sir for your service.💪 Amazing story . detailed , interesting .👍👍👍👍👍

[@marcclement7396]

Good man. We need more like him.

[@mebeasensei]

I think it shows us something about the period and about human nature. The guy handled it the best way he could, and evidently, some of his fellow soldiers didn’t get along with it so well, and yet, the best thing they could do, was re-cycle for another tour, and then they were bitter and jealous of his position. I see that in life in general and can relate to those who struggle with themselves and resent others, who are managing to get through the best way possible and are managing relative lack y successfully. Interesting story.