Don Gutt wanted to enlist in the Marine Corps, but his father wouldn’t let him.
“He told me I couldn’t go until my brother got back to help him farm,” said Gutt, 88.
But when his brother, Victor, got back from his service in World War II, he didn’t want to farm.
Finally, at the age of 19, Don enlisted on Jan. 21, 1947, three weeks after the war officially ended. He went to supply and disbursing school, and was sent to Pearl Harbor.
“I had very nice duty,” Gutt said.
He had a chance to ride in a submarine and recalled the damaged ship, New Yorker, being towed out of the harbor and torpedoed to get rid of it.
“There were still a lot of vessels in the harbor that had been torpedoed,” Gutt said.
Forty-one ships had been bombed. The Arizona Memorial had not yet been constructed.
After serving in Hawaii for two years and then honorably discharged on Jan. 20, 1950, Gutt went to work at Badger Breeders. He was in the reserves when he was called back in November 1950 for the Korean War.
He served for another year but stayed stateside at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. Gutt served four years and one week on active duty and six years in the reserves.
When he returned to Shawano County, Gutt went back to Badger Breeders, which became 21st Century Genetics. He worked there for 39 years, retiring as the human resources office manager.
On Oct. 21, he was on the Washington, D.C., Old Glory Honor Flight with the Green and Gold Roster. Donny Anderson, Zeke Bratkowski and Jim Grabowski, members of the first Green Bay Packers Super Bowl championship team, were also on the flight.
“They were also veterans,” Gutt said.
The veterans were treated like royalty in D.C., he said, and on their return were welcomed by a big crowd and given letters of appreciation during mail call.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” Gutt said.
Don and his wife, Louise, who live in Shawano, have been married 63 years and have two daughters and two grandchildren.
He is a member of Shawano American Legion Post 117 and calls the shots for the honor guard for veterans’ funerals. Gutt is chairman of the Shawano County Veterans Service Commission, a relief program which is in its 60th year.
“If someone needs help, we can do it immediately,” he said.
Gutt said he is honored to be laying the wreath at the Shawano Veterans Day memorial service at the cemetery, along with Army veteran Don Baumgartner.
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