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Local Vietnam veteran working to preserve tradition of service

Markle Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6671 Commander Larry Jenks (left) and Quartermaster George Keplinger hold a copy of the book they have compiled, listing the names and service dates of veterans from Rock Creek and Union townships.
Markle Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6671 Commander Larry Jenks (left) and Quartermaster George Keplinger hold a copy of the book they have compiled, listing the names and service dates of veterans from Rock Creek and Union townships. Photo provided.

Originally published April 21, 2014.

Larry Jenks served in the United States Army in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967.

Following his father's footsteps, Christopher Jenks served in the army in Afghanistan and Iraq, still active in the reserves.

It's that tradition of service, and the military service of everyone in four townships, that the elder Jenks wants to preserve and honor.

Larry Jenks, the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6671 of Markle, and Post Quartermaster George Keplinger worked for four years to put together a tabulation of all the veterans from Rock Creek and Union townships in Huntington County as well as Rockcreek and Union townships in Wells County.

The booklet lists every veteran they could find from those townships, which branch of military service they were a member of and the years of their service, starting with the Revolutionary War.

It was not an easy task.

Jenks says Keplinger did about 99 percent of the work, digging up names from a variety of sources and pooling them together into one book.

"I think he's looked at every veterans plaque and the recorder's offices of Huntington County and Wells County," Jenks says. "Also, most county service officers usually have a record too. Melba Edwards, who writes the Zanesville column, she was a big source of information."

Churches and courthouses were another important source of veterans' records, notes Keplinger, who served in France and Germany in the Air Force in 1961 and 1962.

"I ran an ad in the TAB and the Bluffton paper and asked for veterans or their families to send me things," he recalls. "I received many, many envelopes from their families and their people telling me they would like to have their veteran's name in the book.

"I also got some things from the schools' yearbooks that had veterans' names in them, and I have a big, thick book of newspaper clippings where, in World War II, they were drafting this person and that person."

The main purpose of the book is to simply honor the men and women of the four townships who served their country in the military and record all their names collectively.

"I served in Vietnam. When I came home, people thought nothing of spitting on you. It was kind of forgotten," Jenks says. "Now the veterans who are coming home are really honored."

Copies of the book have been placed in the Indiana Room of the Huntington City-Township Public Library, in the reference section of the Markle Public Library and in the Bluffton library.

But the work is far from finished, Jenks says.

"We hope we have every name. We don't know that for sure," he says. "We have what we think are the correct services ... however, I know there are some mistakes in it."

Jenks and Keplinger plan to revise the book and are seeking information about any errors that need to be corrected or veterans who should be added to the roll.
They hope to eventually publish additional copies to sell as a fund-raiser for the post.

Anyone having information should send it to VFW Post 6671, PO Box 78, Markle, IN 46770; or call Jenks at 758-3387 or Keplinger at 437-4147.

Complete caption: Markle Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6671 Commander Larry Jenks (left) and Quartermaster George Keplinger hold a copy of the book they have compiled, listing the names and service dates of veterans from Rock Creek and Union townships in Huntington and Wells counties. Copies of the book have been placed in the Reference section of the Markle Public Library and the Indiana Room of the Huntington City-Township Public Library.