Falls vet served in Army in Vietnam, Germany
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NEWTON FALLS -- An Army veteran who served tours in Vietnam and Germany after he was drafted into the military said the best thing from his service was meeting his wife, who wrote letters to him before they even met.
Richard "Skip" Funk had finished high school in West Virginia in 1967 with a graduating class of 14.
He came to Ohio in late 1967 and worked in Akron and then in April 1968 at age 18 he came to Newton Falls and worked at Lordstown General Motors for a year before being drafted in February 1969 and had to go to Cleveland.
"I remember they lined us up in rows of four and it was a really long line and they were going down the line 'Army. Marine. Army, Marine. I tried to figure out where I would be going, but they stopped before they got to me and told the rest of us to go home," Funk said.
He then was called back in July 1969 to serve in the Army in the Fourth Infantry Division.
Funk went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for basic training and then to Fort Polk, Louisiana for advanced individual training to be a truck driver. After training, he was sent to the Central Highlands of Vietnam on Nov. 30, 1969, at age 19. He turned 20 in December and stayed there until Dec. 7, 1970.
He said he spent 11 months and seven days in Vietnam.
"As a truck driver, we hauled material. I learned if someone put it in the truck, we hauled it," Funk said.
He said there were days he drove 200 miles and would pick up and bring back troops who were going home, needed to see a doctor or dentist, or for rest and relaxation. He said he remembers taking some men to the local hospital.
"For every guy who fought in the field, there were 10 to 12 of us. We drove on a lot of dirt roads depending on where we were. A lot of places you wondered if it was a road," Funk said.
He remembers when he was driving a truck, some of the Vietnamese were in buggies and tried to get him to slow down so they could jump in the back of the truck and throw out whatever was in there.
Funk kept in touch with his family at home with letters and tapes he made. He said he had both grandparents and great-grandparents living at the time.
Funk was later assigned to Germany and there was 2 feet of snow when he got there. Funk went next to Germany from Dec. 13, 1970 to June 30, 1971.
While there, he transported missiles and warheads that he got from missile sites and took them back for the crew to look over and take apart.
"I was in Germany for six months and trained others on how to load and unload trucks," Funk said.
Funk said the best thing that came out of his two years of service was he met his wife, Roxanne, to whom he has been married for 51 years.
He said his wife went to school with his cousin in Springfield and told her that she wanted to write to someone in Vietnam. Funk's cousin gave her his address and she wrote to him.
"She wrote to me and told me if I did not want to write back to give her letter to someone else who would write back," he said.
Funk said he and Roxanne wrote back and forth between May and November 1970 while he was in Vietnam.
That November when he came home, he met Roxanne for the first time before going to Germany. He said the two continued writing back and forth when he was there.
He said when he left the military in 1971, many of his friends had gotten married.
"I was fortunate that when I came home, I had a job. I went back to Lordstown General Motors and stayed there for 32 1/2 years before I retired," Funk said.
Funk is a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans and the Newton Falls Veterans Honor Guard. Veterans and the Newton Falls. Veterans Honor Guard.
Richard "Skip" Funk
AGE: 74
RESIDENCE: Newton Falls
SERVICE BRANCH: U.S. Army
MILITARY HONORS: Army Occupation Medal, National Defense Service Medal
WORK: Retired from Lordstown General Motors
FAMILY: wife, Roxanne; two sons, Ryan and Nathan; and one grandchild, John