Veterans of Sparta

 Veterans of Sparta Township - in their own words

Julia Miller

Veterans Day is on Nov. 11, 2023. It is a day established to commemorate and thank those who have served our country. 

Veterans have had an experience that most people do not get in their lifetime. We salute our veterans for their bravery and service to our country. It is crucial to reshare their experiences and lessons learned from serving our country to keep their stories alive and to remember that they have defended our values, our freedom, our security and our way of life.  

Looking to this year’s Veterans Day, five Sparta veterans have shared their stories. Sparta High School staff members Eric Hood, William Brennan, Gerald Carter, Shannon Benson and Sparta VFW Commander Pete Litchfield discuss their thoughts and experiences about their time serving this country. 

Shannon Benson- Head of Guidance at Sparta High School

Benson served in the United States Army from 1999 to 2005. He said the greatest lesson he learned from his time in the Army was “perseverance.”

He said, "The ability to push yourself, you can push yourself a lot further than you think, I think mentally and physically, and part of training in the military is designed to do that, to give you the ability to push through and persevere through things that you normally would not persevere through." 

Benson said he was able to learn about people by getting outside of the neighborhood of his youth.  

"I think that just me being from one small town in South Carolina, the military provided me an opportunity to be exposed to a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life, people and experiences that I probably wouldn't have been exposed to if I wasn't in the military."

Gerald Carter - A History Teacher at Sparta High School

Carter served in the United States army from 1975 to 1981: three years active, three years inactive. 

He said that the greatest lesson he learned was to give back, and he also learned discipline. He said, "They don't give you any excuses, you've got to get it done."

Eric Hood- a Russian teacher at Sparta High School

Hood served from 1978 to 1981 in the United States Marine Corps.          

He learned appreciation for America.  He said it is the “greatest country in the world and I was proud to be a member of an elite organization."

He shared a story from when he was on the island of Okinawa. He had served there in the third division and carried hefty equipment. 

“I was going up a hill, and I was carrying something called a mortar tube, which weighed about 28-30 pounds and was long and very hard to carry. A dude saw me and said, 'Hood give me that, give me that' right, and I said, 'No, no, I can do it, I can do it,' and I fainted. 

“He was treating me like a child, saying one leg in front of the other. I realized that the weight was off of my back, and he was carrying it. The feeling of somebody that would help you like that right, and this is my best memory of the Marines.

“The reason it's so good is this was a person that you know if you had to, you would die for him, and he would die for you. It just shows the camaraderie of the Marine Corps. I will remember this guy until the day I die, and just this feeling of how in that situation you knew who you could rely on." 

William Brennan- A History Teacher at Sparta High School

Brennan served in the US Army from 1980 to 1984. He was a Russian linguist and attained the rank of sergeant before he left the military.. He joined the Army after high school because he had wanted to “earn money for college, travel and have some adventure.” 

He said, “My father had served in the Navy during World War II and I had always been interested in the military growing up. After basic training, I attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where I studied Russian for a year before ultimately being stationed in Germany. Going to DLI was one of the highlights of my time in the military and I am still friends with many of the people I attended DLI with."

Brennan said that the Army gave him the structure that allowed him to become more disciplined. “The discipline and maturity I developed in the military were some of the key reasons why I was able to do well later in college after I got out of the Army. I definitely would not have done as well if I had gone to college straight out of high school."

Brennan had a memorable experience when the Soviet Union shot down a Korean airliner and the US government went on red alert, not knowing if this was the beginning of an all-out war between the US and the USSR. 

“The incident happened on a weekend evening, when I was off work and attending a performance of the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ in a German movie theater downtown. It was maybe about 9 p.m. and I was there with at least a dozen people from our unit, including our commanding officer. Several of the soldiers had dressed up in crazy outfits for the show. “Someone came into the theater in the middle of the show and announced that the whole base was going on red alert and we had to leave the movie theater and get right back to base. We changed into our uniforms, got weapons, and prepared to deploy to the field to get ready for what we thought was a possible Soviet invasion of Western Europe. We were finally ordered to stand down around 1 a.m., but that was a very exciting, scary, and unusual evening."

Peter Litchfield- Commander Sparta VFW

Litchfield was in the United States Marine Corp. from Aug. 1966 until Sept. 1970. He got out of the Marines at the rank of Sgt. E-5. He was also in Vietnam from September 1967 until Election Day 1968 at the age of 19. 

Litchfield was in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, when 2,600 Americans were killed. 

Fighting in the military helped pay for Litchfields education, while also teaching him skills in “survival, logistics, and organizational skills.” The military skills he attained were also useful to his following career. 

He said, “I built copper mines in Chile, set up base camp and logistics, receiving all equipment and materials needed. Food, water for both people and high quality used in the production of copper. Waste treatment plants and temporary housing.”

Litchfield gives his advice for young people when he says: “I was at Khe Sanh during Tet, we were 6000 Marines on the combat base and we were surrounded by 20,000 North Vietnam regular Army troops. The battle lasted for 77 days. Constant bombardments from artillery thank God we had Air Force, Marine and Army air support. When I came home from Vietnam, I was stationed on ship as an Admirals Aid. Traveled all over the Mediterranean, South America at the ripe old age of 20-21. I've seen more of the world by 21 than most people ever dream of. My advice to all young people: Join, serve your country for four years.”

All of these men were put in scary and unusual positions to defend our country. They expressed a true connection with the others with whom they served our country. They all stepped out of their comfort zones for the good of the American people. On Nov. 11, remember to thank those veterans for their service to defend the values of our country, especially freedom.