Veteran of the Month

Thomas W. Turner was honored as Jefferson County’s August Veteran of the Month on Tuesday, August 2, during a meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners.Turner was born June 25, 1946, in Fairbury, Nebraska. His family included three brothers and one sister. He attended eight years of grade school in rural Jefferson County and graduated from Fairbury High School in 1965 and attended Fairbury Junior College for one semester before voluntarily joining the Army March 24, 1966. He attended Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Ord, California. Upon graduation he was assigned to the newly formed 11th Infantry Brigade, Schofield Barracks in Oahu, Hawaii. He was the fourth man to join the newly formed Charlie Company 1st Platoon 20th Infantry. Turner was selected to attend Armourer School and was in charge of his company’s armory. He trained in Hawaii until late November, 1967, when his company was selected to be the advanced party for the Brigade shipment to Vietnam. Turner flew on a C130 with the company supplies and the main body flew by jet a few days later. The rest of the Brigade shipped out by the Navy the first part of December, 1967.Turner’s company was sent to I Corps in Vietnam and he was assigned to the 1st Platoon with the American Cavalry Division and his company was assigned to ‘Task Force Barker’ the first part of 1968, as a show of force against the North Vietnamese.In June, 1968, Turner was transferred to the 26th Combat Engineers and served as their company armourer. He easily made friends with those men who served in combat missions, sometimes for weeks at a time, and thought it unreasonable that they should immediately have guard duty responsibility at night when just returning to their base. Turner voluntarily spent time in the bunkers at night with his friends to give them some relief at the displeasure of his Executive Officer. At this point Turner voluntarily gave up his relative safe armourer duties and went ‘into the fight’ with his friends. Most of their several week long combat missions were in the area south of Chu Lai, which was heavily infiltrated with North Vietnamese. The heat, humidity, heavy pack loads, poor rations and lack of potable water were reasons enough, not to mention the casualties of war, to periodically have men medevacked. Turner was medevacked twice.This area of South Vietnam that Tom and his fellow soldiers defended was, in his estimation, the worst that this war had to offer. Turner said that his rural sense of values and upbringing made it possible for him to make the right decisions under the most difficult combat conditions.Specialist 4 Turner was released from active duty November 24, 1968. His awards include: National Defense Service Medal; M-14 Marksman Medal; Combat Infantry Badge; Vietnam Service Medal; Vietnam Campaign Medal; and two bars for overseas duty. (All four Turner brothers served in the Army).As a civilian, Turner attended college in Fairbury and North Platte, married his wife, Connie, worked in a lumber yard, worked fence construction and purchased more land that he and Connie farmed in Saline and Jefferson Counties for 27 years.Turner and his brother still own the original Turner Homestead land by Wilber, purchased in 1875.Turner earned an LPN Degree in 2000 and worked at the Beatrice State Developmental Center and Madonna in Lincoln. In June, 2006, he joined the Jefferson County Reserve Deputies, graduated from the Nebraska Law Enforcement Center in August, 2007, at the age of 61 to become a fully Certified Deputy Sheriff until his retirement in 2017.In 1989, Turner and Connie purchased his parents Jefferson County acreage where they now live. They manage farm property of their own and for relatives. Turner likes to hunt and fish, is a member of the Swanton American Legion, a member of the Fairbury VFW and serves on the Law Enforcement Committee.Bio written by Doug Kapke

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