By Terri Cowart Frazier and Ben Martin

For Master Sgt. (Ret.) Tommy Tribble, serving in the military had just been “his job.”

It was a job that began when he was first deployed in 1945 after joining the Army at the age of 18 to serve during the final days of WW II as a heavy equipment operator.

Tribble’s military career continued as a heavy equipment operator while also serving during the Korean War and Vietnam War.

On Monday, Nov. 11, Tribble, like so many others who have seen the other side of freedom — the side of protecting and defending the U.S. — will be honored for his service as Veterans Day is observed.

This past Monday, Tribble was also recognized for his years of military service during the Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Eleven local veterans were also in attendance as Board of Supervisors President Kelle Barfield extended the board’s gratitude for Tribble’s service.

“You stand as a model not just to our generation, but to the young people who are wondering about their future. How can they be meaningful in this world? I think you all know that our public high schools here ask our young people when they enter high school to declare what their strategy is going to be when they graduate,” Barfield said. “And so enrolling in a college after high school is one of those choices. But right up there, and equal in terms of options, is enlisting in the military or being employed in a certified trade or being an entrepreneur working for themselves. So serving our country in the military is also something that we groom our young people for. And we appreciate, really, the model and the service that all of you continue to provide in that regard.”

WWII

Tribble, who was born in Warren County in 1927 and is now 98 years old, said his first deployment took him across the Atlantic Ocean and into Europe.

There he helped build bridges across the Rhine River to advance and protect allied forces.

Initially, he said he had not started out as a heavy construction equipment operator. The opportunity for the job arose after his sergeant saw him sitting on a piece of equipment.

“I was on a piece of equipment taking a break and he asked me if I wanted to learn how to operate it,” Tribble said. “And I told him, ‘Yes sir.’”

So, Tribble was sent to school where he learned to operate bulldozers, road graders and other types of construction equipment.

After he was promoted to the rank of PFC, he said he was then sent back to school to learn how to repair the equipment.

“I was an operator and a repairman. And once I became a sergeant, I taught other soldiers how to operate and repair heavy equipment,” he said, which would eventually become his main job.

As a heavy equipment operator, one of Tribble’s jobs was to construct bridges — “pontoon bridges.”

“The pontoon bridge… you carry it around on a vehicle and then when you get ready to use it the men have to put the bridge together piece by piece and the next thing you know you have it all the way across the river,” he said.

The pontoon bridge Tribble was referring to was built across the Rhine River.

“And the whole 7th Army and the 1st (Infantry) Division (also known as the Big Red One, originating in Fort Raleigh, Kansas and still in operational today) had to cross that bridge and in order for them to cross the bridge we had tanks and Army guides that had to protect the people crossing the bridge,” he said.

Tribble also recalled that while serving in WWII, when they first landed in France, before being transported to Germany, he noticed all the camps were named after cigarette brands.

“The camps were named after the cigarettes that the GI’s smoked. There was Camp Phillip Morris, Camp Lucky Strike and Camp Camel,” he laughed.

Another memory Tribble shared from his time in Europe was about the weather.

“In January it’s cold in Europe and (while traveling) we had to sleep in open box cars, and the train cars had no heaters,” he said. So, the soldiers had to decide if they wanted to “freeze to death” or “cry themselves to death from the smoke” that came from the fire that was started from wood put in a 55-gallon open drum.

Also interesting was Tribble’s account of his helmet. It could be used for a variety of tasks, he said.

“When soldiers are on the field, our steel helmets… you use it to bathe in and you use it to cook in, because if you wanted some warm food, you would use it,” Tribble said. “And if you are riding in a convey and you wanted something to drink and are lucky enough to find Army issued beer, you would fill the steel helmet up.”

Korean War

During the Korean War, Tribble was deployed in 1954 as a loaned soldier in support of Air Force operations and was stationed in Pusan. His units’ jobs, he said, were to maintain air runways, build new runways and to protect themselves while they built the runways (the Pusan Perimeter being a defensive line that was around the port of Pusan, South Korea and was thought of in the vein that if the UN forces had not held the line, there would be no South Korea.)

Vietnam

“In Vietnam in ‘67 and ‘68… it was the worst part of the Vietnam War, and I was there,” Tribble said.

Tribble also had a cousin whose son was in Vietnam at the time, and she had gotten word he had been severely injured, but that was all she knew.

“Her son had been wounded real bad,” Tribble said. “And they wouldn’t tell her anything so she wanted to know if I could find him.”

Tribble said he asked around to see if anyone knew of the place where his cousin’s son was and a “young fellow said he knew where (he) was. So, I asked my commander if I could go find my cousin.”

Tribble was given permission to go. Accompanying him was a friend and the “young fellow” who knew where his cousin’s son was located.

To travel, Tribble said, “In Vietnam we had to have our M16s, at least three of four clips of ammunition and about five or six hand grenades that you had to carry on you at all times.”

Tribble found his cousin’s son.

“He had been cut all across his chest, but when he looked up and saw me, he got a big smile on his face.”

Vietnam-Tet Offensive

Known as one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive was a surprise attack against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.

Tribble was in the thick of an attack where he was stationed and recalled being overrun by Viet Cong.

“They tried to overrun us. We had our 50 caliber machine guns set up and our bunkers set up and everything and the VC attempted to overrun us at Bien Hoa Air Base.

During the attack, Tribble said quite a few helicopters were destroyed, as were many planes that were on the ground.

But most notable about the attack, Tribble said, was the fact that just days before it began, he and the two men who went with him to find his cousin’s son were on the very road where the Viet Cong had been hiding before the attack.

“Driving on that road I could have been destroyed because all the VC’s were out in the field everywhere. They couldn’t let themselves be known,” Tribble said. “And we didn’t know they had been that close. We had a house about a block away from us in the field — away from our outfit and when they tried to overrun us, they had made a big hole to that house and all of them came out of that house by the thousands. No one knew the VC were that close.”

Fortunately, with all the fire power at their disposal, Tribble said they were able to defend themselves.

The Vietnam War claimed the lives of 58,220 U.S. soldiers and Tribble said the Tet Offensive had been the worst part of the war.

When asked if he felt lucky to have survived, Tribble just said it had been his job.

“Once you become a soldier, it’s just like everyday life and you become accustomed to it. It’s just another everyday life,” he said. “I stayed there until my time was up and I was glad to come home.”