The trip of a lifetime

Ron Wollak has covered a lot of territory.

From his home state of Minnesota to nearly three decades in Mariposa, Wollak has seen a lot and done a lot in his life.

That includes two stints in the U.S. Navy, one during the Vietnam War and one later on that was a result of his battle with alcohol.

“I’m a geographical person,” joked Wollak, 77, during a recent interview.

Part of that geography happened recently when he was part of the Honor Flight program that took him and his niece from Idaho to Washington, D.C. There was also a surprise waiting for him during the trip.

In the service

It was 1967 when Wollak graduated from high school and decided he would enlist in the Navy. He was living in his hometown of Duluth, Minn.

Why enlist?

“I remember this commercial I saw,” he said.

That commercial had a tagline of, “Ride the waves and see the world.”

The Navy seemed to be his calling.

Once he enlisted, Wollak was sent to San Diego for boot camp. He did warehouse work for a year following boot camp. He then spent some time at the Naval Base San Diego 32nd Street facility.

And then, he said, the Navy was looking for enlisted men who were interested in going to Vietnam.

Wollak signed up.

He was shipped to Da Nang and began his duties at a supply depot. He said the first night he was there, air raid sirens rang out and he wondered, “What did I sign up for?”

Another thing he remembers vividly is leaving the U.S. from San Francisco and then landing in Da Nang.

“It was so humid there,” he said.

After the air raid siren on the first night, Wollak said that was really the only scare he had while serving six months in Vietnam.

His duties included helping the people of Vietnam. In fact, the main focus was building benches and tables for the school children in the country.

“I felt like they appreciated us,” he said.

He also spent time on the USS Thomaston, a Navy landing ship which was the lead of eight in the fleet. It was known as “LSD 28” and was a “Navy Landing Ship Dock.”

That is a specialized amphibious warfare vessel equipped with an internal well deck. It functions as a floating dry dock, allowing the ship to ballast (take on water) so that its stern floods. This enables the launch, recovery and repair of smaller landing craft and amphibious vehicles.

New duties

After his tour in Vietnam, he returned to Oakland and was assigned to the USS Midway, the flagship of the aircraft carrier fleet. He went to sea aboard the Midway, where he was in charge of the winch room that transferred supplies and operated the giant anchors of the vessel.

By then, Wollak said his “time was running out” in his four-year stint and he was brought back to the U.S. while the Midway was still as sea.

He landed in San Francisco, where he would spend two years.

Then, in a twist of fate, he landed in Jackson Hole, Wyo., working for the famous Million Dollar Bar.

But Wollak said he wanted to take advantage of his GI bill benefits, so he moved to Spearfish, S.D., in the Black Hills, where he attended school for two years.

That didn’t work out as well as he wanted, so off he went to Kalispell, Mont., where he earned a degree in forestry technology.

A personal battle

But, he was also facing another battle — alcoholism.

He became sober in 1979 after a failed marriage in Montana and in 1981, he was talking to his brother in Sacramento and ended up moving to California.

Because of that, Wollak made the incredible decision to reenlist in the Navy and, believe it or not, he went back to San Diego. He was stationed in Myanmar, a community northeast of San Diego.

Because he was experiencing hearing issues related to his time on the aircraft carrier, he requested not to be put back in a similar situation. He became an operations yeoman for officers during his two-year stint the second time he was in the Navy.

When he got out, he came back to Sacramento and ended up working for the U.S. Forest Service in Placerville. That was in 1988 and he was hired to work on the beetle infestation issue.

However, he said he became frustrated because he was looked past for promotions and in 1992, he had a “lady friend” in Merced and ended up going there. He stayed with her for six years, but, like him, she suffered from alcoholism.

In 1998, he left Merced and made his way to Mariposa.

He has been here since.

Wollak worked “mostly in” carpentry and construction, he said, and was also a local handyman. He is now retired and has enjoyed his nearly three decades in Mariposa.

A great ‘Honor’

Just recently, Wollak traveled to Washington, D.C., as part of the Honor Flight program. The program pays for veterans to travel to the nation’s capital, where they are treated like royalty.

“Overwhelming,” he said about the experience. “All of the detail was just astronomical.”

Each veteran has to have an escort, and in this case it was his niece, Marina Stiner from Boise, Idaho.

“They did all of the carrying,” he said, saying he felt bad that his niece had to carry his bags. But she seemed to not mind.

Then, on the flight from Fresno, the veterans were all given window seats.

But before even getting on the plane, he said the airport was lined with people to send them off, an experience he said “gave me goose bumps.”

It also reminded him of how, when he came back from Vietnam to San Francisco, there were protesters greeting the troops. What a difference, he said, to be honored in Fresno.

Even though Wollak is a geographic person, he said this was his first visit to Washington.

“I don’t want to live there,” he said, noting the mass of humanity and hustle and bustle of the big city.

However, he called his experience in D.C. “most impressive.”

One he really cherishes is the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery.

He also learned during that ceremony, the soldiers take 21 paces and then there are 21 second intervals before they return. That is to recognize the 21-gun salute that honors fallen service members.

Also during the trip, a surprise awaited Wollak. While in the U.S. Capitol, he said some of the people on the trip began distracting him with questions and he could not figure out why.

Then he turned around and there to greet him were one of his brothers and his sister. She came from Minnesota (and is the mother of his niece) and he came from Massachusetts.

“Unreal,” he said.

Others who were there reported tears of joy streaming down his cheeks when he saw his siblings.

Another highlight, he said, was when they were treated for dinner at an American Legion post. He said women were lined up on either side of the pathway and he got a kiss on each cheek. In fact, he said they stopped each time to put on lipstick to make sure they left a mark.

“I thought about not washing them off,” he quipped. “It might be the last kiss I get.”

Wollak then made the return flight to Fresno, where, at 9 p.m., he said a large crowd had gathered to greet the veterans.

“What a welcoming that was,” he said. “I felt like a celebrity.”

Wise advice

Wollak was asked if veterans who have not taken the Honor Flight should go to Washington.

“Absolutely,” he said. “The caring and feeling toward the veterans. I felt so much love and compassion.”

He also made some new friends and said the veterans all shared stories.

Wollak also reflected back on his time in Vietnam and how he feels some 50 years after the war.

“They are caring people,” he said. “It has turned 180 degrees.”