A Vietnam vet who does it all

NOKESVILLE, Va. - A Nokesville man has been named member of the year by the Vietnam Veterans of America Virginia State Council.

Darrell Harvey received the award during the group's recent state conference, an event he had not planned on attending because he and his family had already made plans to be in Las Vegas at that time.

"The state president called my daughter Ginger and said, 'you probably need to come,'" Harvey said.

The phone call from Charlie Montgomery led the Harvey's to put off their trip to Nevada and to instead go to the conference, which was held in Richmond. Harvey said he was shocked when Montgomery announced he was the organization's member of the year.

"The look on my face was totally," Harvey said with a shake of the head as his voice trailed away.

Harvey, 69, has been a member of VVA Chapter 617, which meets at the second Thursday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the Prince William County Animal Shelter's training room, for more than 20 years.

"When I came back from Vietnam, I looked for about 10 years to find a chapter and I joined the one in Vienna, but that was too far a commute. They had their meetings during the week," said Harvey, who learned about the Woodbridge chapter from a member of the Culpeper chapter back in the 1980s.

"I might have missed three meetings in 20 years," he said.

Harvey, who served in the Army for 25 years, arrived in Vietnam on New Year's Day 1965 and remained in-country until December of 1966.

In a letter nominating Harvey for the award, Woodbridge chapter president Desi Arnaiz noted that Harvey has served as membership chairman for over five years and during that time the chapter has gained over 10 percent in new members.

"Darrell Harvey gives full measure to the VVA cause, its members and those Vietnam vets not yet members," Arnaiz wrote.

In addition, Harvey has volunteered at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with the National Vietnam Veterans of America for more than 20 years, manning a booth on Veteran's Day and during other nationally sponsored events. He also marches in the Dale City Fourth of July parade, volunteers for virtually every local chapter event, organizes the local chapter's annual dinner outings, and organized and chaired a meeting the chapter sponsored in June in Manassas.

"Darrell is the example of a member who does it all for our chapter members, the state council and non-member Vietnam veterans," added Arnaiz.

For more information on the local VVA chapter, visit its web site at vva617.org.

Military editor Julia LeDoux can be reached at 703-369-5718.