Steve Kettelhut Is November Veteran Of The Month

By Doug KapkeSteve Kettelhut was honored Tuesday morning, December 2, 2025, as Veteran of the Month by Jefferson County Commissioners. He was also presented with a hand-made, patriotic wall hanging by Rory Rosener.Kettelhut, the son of Walt and Dorothy Kettelhut, was raised on a family farm northeast of Hubbell, Nebraska. He attended elementary school in Hubbell and high school at Hubbell/Chester. In 1968 he joined the Fairbury Volunteer Fire Department, which qualified him for a bed at the Fire Station. He attended Fairbury Junior College in the day time and graduated in 1970. The Vietnam War was in full swing at the time and Kettelhut voluntarily joined the Army for two years of active duty. He attended basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in June, 1970. Kettelhut next spent time at Fort Gordon, Georgia improving his Morse Code, a series of shorts bursts of sound or light called “dits” and long bursts called “dahs” or “dots” and “dashes.” To become proficient in Morse Code one needed to produce 15 words per minute (WPM). At this point Kettelhut was at 13 WPM proficiency. The incentive to become proficient in Morse Code was that the alternative was Radio Communications, which meant carrying a radio on your back in Vietnam. Kettelhut opted for Teletype School at Fort Dix, New Jersey to further improve his Morse Code proficiency. In November, 1970, Sergeant (E-5) Kettelhut was sent to Stuttgart, Germany, to be in charge of a Communications Unit, called a “rig.” His unit mostly operated out of a deuce-and-a-half truck for over one year. Though he generally liked field work, it was necessary to share a tent with six other men and survive on C-rations. He and his men found ways to obtain food from local farmers and whenever possible accepted “donations” from post kitchens, which were often referred to as “midnight requisitions.” They lacked shower and laundry facilities in the field and relied on oil burning space heaters which provided minimal heat for the tent living quarters. Most of Kettelhut’s tour of duty in Germany required participation in major training exercises. One of the biggest involved REFORGER, one of combined maneuvers with North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) forces. The name REFORGER is derived from Return of FORces to GERmany. Sergeant Kettelhut and his men did their part to meet a threatened Soviet invasion. Kettelhut earned the National Service Defense Medal and the Marksman Badge with the M-16 rifle. In April, 1972, sergeant Kettelhut returned to the USA to be honorably discharged. Steve and wife, Shirley, were married in June, 1975, and have two children. He worked for a while for Fairbury Pipe and Supply, the State Patrol, for the railroad as a brakeman/conductor, and headed the Fairbury Ambulance Service for a while, after graduating from Auctioneer School in Billings, Montana in 1978. On June 15, 1990, after working as a certified broker in real estate, he finally assumed control of his own auction and real estate business Fairbury residents know today. Kettelhut has spent 51 years as a member of the Elks, 43 years with the Fire Department, 52 years as a member of Hubbell American Legion and the Hubbell Honor Guard, and is a long time church council member. He currently is active in his own business, enjoys hunting and spending time with his family on his Silver Creek property with his wife, Shirley, of over 50 years.

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