The Los Osos Valley Memorial Park hosted a Veterans Day ceremony on Tuesday.
One veteran in attendance was Harry Holden, who says he knew he wanted to serve in the military when he was in the 4th grade.
Holden attended college at Cal Poly Pomona to be a lab tech, graduating in 1972 during the Vietnam War.
“In that time, the draft came about and you were given a number based on your birthday, a very random selection, but my number was 27 so I was gonna be drafted,” Holden said.
Holden decided to join the Navy for one simple reason.
“The Navy’s uniform is the best,” he said.
Holden became a hospital corpsman, the Navy's first responders. Then, a program for lab techs was introduced.
“So here I am in San Diego, boats everywhere... but they sent me to Chicago, where there were no boats for 1,000 miles in either direction on the coast, but I’m in the Navy,” Holden said.
He spent two years training in Chicago before being sent to the Lemoore Naval Air Station.
“I heard there were boats 500 miles north, 500 miles south but I’m in the Central Valley. There’s no boats there,” Holden said.
Even though his work was on land, his role was vital, helping in the recovery of soldiers returning from Vietnam, some being in the war zone just a few hours before their arrival.
“They had just 48 hours ago been in Vietnam getting shot at," Holden explained. “You were told, do not walk up to the top of the bed. Stand at the foot of the bed, wiggle their toe, and let them wake up and realize they’re safe and comfortable and can allow you to do your job because these boys would come up fighting and ready to kill me. They were protecting themselves. That was the mindset."
After his service, Holden worked at General Hospital in San Luis Obispo and now works in quality control for a medical device company in Los Osos.
Holden says that in the Navy, he learned discipline, common sense, and attention to detail, which have stuck with him throughout his life.
“My time in the military, I never left the country, which was a bit unusual, but I got a huge amount of training, a huge amount of camaraderie. I feel good about having been in the military," Holden said.
