Naval Veteran reflects on his time of service and what independence day means to him

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Walter Wright is a Vietnam veteran and the current quartermaster at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Blennerhassett Post 1212.

Wright served in the Navy from 1967-1973 where he was a missile gunners mate.

Wright talked in-depth about his role during his service.

“I was classed as a missile gunners mate. I took care of the ships missile system. But when I went board on ship it was mostly gunners make guns on there and they told us forget about being a missile gunners mate we were gunners mates. So when I went on board ship I got positioned in the forward gun mount as a mount captain,” Wright said.

Wright began his time of service when he was 19 years-old, when he went to the Great Lakes in Illinois to train for the navy before being sent to Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Recovery Fleet, and then to Vietnam.

Wright shared a memorable moment from his time at Pearl Harbor.

“Whenever I went on board ship and I went on board ship in ‘68 or ‘69 and they were filming the movie ‘Tora Tora Tora’ and I got up to go to quarters and they were bombing pearl harbor again. The Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor again,” Wright said.

Wright says if he had the chance to serve again he absolutely would.

He says this because he believes if we don’t keep a volunteer military then our freedom is not going to be protected anymore.

Wright shared what independence day means to him.

“It means our freedom. That is what we went for is to make sure the country stayed free and whatever would actually threaten our country. We were there and that is why most of us volunteer to go is to keep our freedom and keep everyone free and keep it away from our country itself,” Wright said.

Wright looks forward to continuing working at VFW Post 1212 as the quartermaster in the near future.

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