Vietnam War-era veterans honored at Gurnee ceremony

Jackie Hebert’s father loved the military.

“He came from a military family, and it meant so much,” Hebert said of her father, an Albia native.

Private First Class Henry Arthur Gretten enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1961 at the age of 19. He was stationed in Berlin, Germany, where he met Jackie’s mother, Angela.

Less than a day after his first term ended in 1963, Gretten reenlisted.

“He probably would have been a military lifer had he lived,” Hebert said.
In October 1965, Gretten began his tour in Vietnam where he served as a member of a mortar squad within an infantry unit, providing indirect fire support by launching shells at targets.