Veterans Day Has 'Special Meaning'

For many former service men and women, Veteran’s Day is a time to remember their own past. They look back on their time in the military, the places they went and the people they met. Neligh’s Dennis “Denny” Flenniken is one of those men.

“It has a special meaning,” Flenniken said. “It’s a time to think back to people I haven’t seen that I spent that time with.”

Flenniken, a Neligh graduate, enlisted in the Air Force in 1965. He joined on what he called a “buddy-buddy plan” with fellow Neligh graduate Bill Wolfe. Flenniken went through basic training at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas, before moving on to tech school to become an outside wire insulation and antenna specialist. His role in maintaining communications was crucial to the United States military efforts at the time.

“What I did was maintenance on radar antennas and insulation of rhombic radar antennas,” he explained.

He spent the next four years of his life in the service, rising to the rank of sergeant in 1968 before his career came to a close in 1969. At that time, the United States was in the midst of some of the most intense years of the Vietnam War. Flenniken spent time in a number of countries in the Asian Pacific, leading to many of his fondest memories.

While in Japan, for example, Flenniken said he could see Russia, then still known as the Soviet Union, on a clear day from his station. At the time, the USSR was a communist country considered to be an ally of North Vietnam in the war.

​For many former service men and women, Veteran’s Day is a time to remember their own past. They look back on their time in the military, the places they went and the people they met. Neligh’s Dennis “Denny” Flenniken is one of those men.

“It has a special meaning,” Flenniken said. “It’s a time to think back to people I haven’t seen that I spent that time with.”

Flenniken, a Neligh graduate, enlisted in the Air Force in 1965. He joined on what he called a “buddy-buddy plan” with fellow Neligh graduate Bill Wolfe. Flenniken went through basic training at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas, before moving on to tech school to become an outside wire insulation and antenna specialist. His role in maintaining communications was crucial to the United States military efforts at the time.

“What I did was maintenance on radar antennas and insulation of rhombic radar antennas,” he explained.

He spent the next four years of his life in the service, rising to the rank of sergeant in 1968 before his career came to a close in 1969. At that time, the United States was in the midst of some of the most intense years of the Vietnam War. Flenniken spent time in a number of countries in the Asian Pacific, leading to many of his fondest memories.

While in Japan, for example, Flenniken said he could see Russia, then still known as the Soviet Union, on a clear day from his station. At the time, the USSR was a communist country considered to be an ally of North Vietnam in the war.

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