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Gary Krzemkowski served his country from 1968 to 1971 as an Army Specialist in Thailand during the Vietnam War — but by no means was that the only time he served.
After coming back from the war unscathed, Krzemkowski missed the cohesion and companionship he got in the service. One thing that helped filled that void was his work as a teacher.
“I was a teacher in Cicero for 31 years. I taught a lot about Vietnam,” he said. “I made the kids cry a lot and made them understand what a soldier is and what a veteran is, too.”
He then moved on to more than 20 years of work with VietNow, a veterans’ service organization that began after some Vietnam veterans felt they were excluded from other veterans clubs.
As president of the Berwyn-Cicero chapter the past four years, Krzemkowski oversees the group’s 70 members. Longevity has become a hallmark of the organization.
An annual veterans dinner dance — the group’s signature event — is in its 24th year, and members also have been helping needy children at Oak Park's Hephzibah Children's Association for 20 years.
“It’s really easy for a group to come in and do something for a year or two,” Krzemkowski said. “Our name is out there now, but helping these veterans continually each year, I think that’s a real feat for the chapter.”
Although Krzemkowski moved to Darien seven years ago after retiring, he stuck with the Berwyn-Cicero chapter of VietNow. And he’s not alone.
Bob Bednarz, the chapter’s historian and newsletter editor, said members from as far away as Hawaii, Colorado and Arizona have kept up their membership despite a great deal of distance. In part, people stay with this chapter because VietNows are few and far between, but it’s also because of the tight bond and the camaraderie its members receive in the group.
“You talk to these guys and you listen to what they’ve gone through — the guys that just came back and the older ones that have been there — and you bond with them and want to be with them,” he said. “It’s not the fact that we’re helping them, it’s that we’re there with them and it’s like a family. I think of any veteran like a family, any veteran.”
While Krzemkowski happened across the group in 1986 at a parade, and prior to that had only moderate involvement with other area veterans groups, many of his closest friends are from VietNow.
Gary Krzemkowski served his country from 1968 to 1971 as an Army Specialist in Thailand during the Vietnam War — but by no means was that the only time he served.
After coming back from the war unscathed, Krzemkowski missed the cohesion and companionship he got in the service. One thing that helped filled that void was his work as a teacher.
“I was a teacher in Cicero for 31 years. I taught a lot about Vietnam,” he said. “I made the kids cry a lot and made them understand what a soldier is and what a veteran is, too.”
He then moved on to more than 20 years of work with VietNow, a veterans’ service organization that began after some Vietnam veterans felt they were excluded from other veterans clubs.
As president of the Berwyn-Cicero chapter the past four years, Krzemkowski oversees the group’s 70 members. Longevity has become a hallmark of the organization.
An annual veterans dinner dance — the group’s signature event — is in its 24th year, and members also have been helping needy children at Oak Park's Hephzibah Children's Association for 20 years.
“It’s really easy for a group to come in and do something for a year or two,” Krzemkowski said. “Our name is out there now, but helping these veterans continually each year, I think that’s a real feat for the chapter.”
Although Krzemkowski moved to Darien seven years ago after retiring, he stuck with the Berwyn-Cicero chapter of VietNow. And he’s not alone.
Bob Bednarz, the chapter’s historian and newsletter editor, said members from as far away as Hawaii, Colorado and Arizona have kept up their membership despite a great deal of distance. In part, people stay with this chapter because VietNows are few and far between, but it’s also because of the tight bond and the camaraderie its members receive in the group.
“You talk to these guys and you listen to what they’ve gone through — the guys that just came back and the older ones that have been there — and you bond with them and want to be with them,” he said. “It’s not the fact that we’re helping them, it’s that we’re there with them and it’s like a family. I think of any veteran like a family, any veteran.”
While Krzemkowski happened across the group in 1986 at a parade, and prior to that had only moderate involvement with other area veterans groups, many of his closest friends are from VietNow.
VietNow doesn’t just help veterans of the Vietnam War, it also helps members of the community who have fallen on hard times. One of Krzemkowski’s favorite events was gathering Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas presents for a 4-year-old boy who lost both his parents in 2010.
The group meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at the Berwyn VFW Hall, 1529 Harlem Ave., with each meeting open to the public.
“The group helped me a lot because I found out what other people did and what they went through,” Krzemkowski said. “Before that, it was like limbo.”
