Don Mitchell is Veteran of the Month

Donald L. Mitchell Jr. was honored Tuesday morning, September 6, 2022, by Jefferson County Commissioners as the September Veteran of the Month.Mitchell voluntarily joined the U. S. Army with his high school classmate, Robert Thrasher, under the “Buddy System” in June 1961. Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training were at Ft. Riley, Kansas. While at Ft. Riley, Mitchell was a member of the Honor Guard with the 33rd Field Artillery Regiment and remained with the 1st Infantry Division his entire three-year tour of duty.One of Mitchell’s first assignments after initial training was at Terrell, Colorado, where he spent October, November and December, 1961 experiencing “Winter Warfare Training.” His next major assignment was in July, August and September, 1962 in South Carolina experiencing “Survival Training.” Mitchell never did get accustomed to sleeping in a sleeping bag in cold weather. Often he would wake up in the morning and the zipper on the sleeping bag was under his body.Mitchell also spent five days aboard a ship involved in “Amphibious Training.” He experienced three separate beach landings, which consisted of climbing over board on a rope ladder into assault landing craft, and then being dumped into waist deep water with full military gear to complete the final beach landing.Mitchell‘s primary duties while serving consisted of driving 5T and 2 ½T trucks and he was a member of the ammunition squad. In 1962 Mitchell was selected as “Driver of the Month.” His squad provided ammunition to rifle ranges and accounted for all spent ammunition, unused ammunition and ammunition boxes. During the Cuban Crisis in 1962 Mitchell’s unit was on “Red Alert’’ for five days.The last of Mitchell’s eight duty assignments while on active duty was December, 1963 to June, 1963 just outside Frankford, Germany, at Wildflecken, south of Berlin. The duty station was just a place in the forest with rain dampened limestone buildings. As a show of force there was a parade every Friday afternoon on the west side of the Berlin Wall. Mitchell’s unit was once sent on a tour of East Germany, but everyone was very limited on what they were allowed to see.During Mitchell’s time in the military, “K” rations were made in Nebraska City and were in green cans. One opened the cans with a P38 can opener. While on Kitchen Police (mess hall duty), it was common to see boxes of butter that came from the Fairbury Creamery, where bacon bits are now made.Things Mitchell never developed a liking for in the military were: Guard duty at night in the rain, driving during “blackout” training conditions, driving in cold weather during conveys with windows down and bundled up in overcoats or sleeping bags to keep warm and eating a Thanksgiving dinner siting on a rock with gloves on.After being honorably discharged on 19 June 1964, Mitchell returned to Fairbury. In February, 1965 he married his wife, Arnola.They moved to Sidney, where Arnola taught country school and Mitchell earned a Diesel Mechanic Degree. They subsequently moved back to Fairbury, bought a farm in 1970 and Mitchell worked for a fertilizer plant for 21 years. They now rent out the farm ground and manage a sizeable herd of cattle.Mitchell is a 53-year member of American Legion Post 358 at Jansen, Nebraska. He is a past member of their Honor Guard, past Post Commander and currently serves as the Post 358 representative on the Jefferson County Veterans Committee.

Jacqueline Jones

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