Vietnam vet continues service

For Darold Dean (D.D.) Couch, every day is Veterans Day. Because after serving in the Vietnam War and the National Guard, he went to work serving the Custer community and beyond through the Kenneth Kuper Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 3442.
Couch grew up in the eastern part of South Dakota, including Woonsocket, Kimball and Wessington Springs. 
“I went to five different schools by the time I graduated. Living off the farm, you had to keep moving,” said Couch. 
In 1969, he graduated from Wessington Springs High School. Serving in the military was the furthest thing from his mind, although his family had a long history of service.
Couch’s grandfather served in World War I, and his dad served in World War II in Europe and Japan. His cousins also served in the military, and his youngest brother served in the Marines as a color guard in Washington, D.C. for four years. 
“What happened was, after I graduated from high school, I kind of hung out because I wasn’t a good student by any means. I didn’t go to college, so I just waited,” said Couch. 
As it turned out, Couch was part of the first lottery draft for Vietnam, “and how they did that was they drew birth dates, and of 366, my number come out 23. So I enlisted the next day, and things just escalated.”
Couch went to basic training at Fort Lewis, Wash. Based on a test he took in enlistment, Couch was placed in communications. 
“Then, we flew down, the ones going to communication, to Fort Ord, Calif., and I was there for two months in training, two weeks at home on leave, and then into Vietnam. It was pretty standard for most everybody at that time,” said Couch. “The top 20 percent of the class, they announced that we’d be going forward bidding for climbing the big poles, but six weeks into AIT (Advanced Individual Training), they came in and said, ‘Forget it, boys. You’re all going to Vietnam.’ It was kind of a disheartening day, but we pretty well in the back of our minds knew that’s what was going to happen. ”
From the day Couch enlisted in the United States Army to the day he hit boots on the ground in Vietnam July 16, 1970 was about six months. He was 19 at the time. 
“It was like a whirlwind,” said Couch. “I had no idea what I was getting into. No idea. It was just the thing to do at the time. You had no choice when you’re drafted. I’d become a government issue—G.I.” 
“School never taught us anything about the Vietnam War. There wasn’t even a peep about it,” Couch added. 
However, when he reached Vietnam and was transferred to training orientation, one of the instructors was from Plankinton, 30 miles from Couch’s hometown. 
“We talked all night long. Might have saved my life. God bless his soul. He passed away last year,” said Couch. “That’s the orientation. You don’t know if it helped or not, but you survived anyway. There was a lot of, ‘No, don’t do this and don’t do thats.’”
Couch ended up in Chu Lai, Vietnam with the 23rd Infantry Division. 
“I was with Charlie Battery, first to the 14th Artillery,” said Couch. “We had six guns, six 105 howitzers, and three of them were on jump. Three of them were at the fire base. They rotate us in and out about every other month. I got to be at the fire base at the rear, which makes a guy a little bit more nervous because that’s where he got hit a lot.”
As a radio operator, Couch said he served 12-hour shifts. If someone got sick or was indisposed, they would have to carry the load. The longest Couch did was a 36-hour shift, “which you couldn’t sleep after that because you were so wound up. But it actually was a good thing we didn’t have it worse than that, because I’m sure many did.”
“There were three of us at the firebase, Fat City, and then we were always on jump with three guns. So there was at least two on jump all the time, running 12-hour shifts. There was five of us to cover both places,” said Couch. 
Couch said encoded missions came to the radio operator at the fire direction control center before being sent to the guns.
“So you have to break down the code as fast as possible to get the information to the guns so they could fire, and I don’t even know if I could do that anymore without a little training. But it was just routine,” said Couch. “You learned the routine. And when a call came in, you had work, which being busy was always good. It helped pass time.” 
“Being a radio operator with the artillery, breaking down missions and firing them was the greatest job I ever had in my life. Nothing’s ever matched that for the adrenaline flow and doing things for comrades. Of course, I was a fortunate one,” said Couch. “I didn’t place it as so significant at the time, but now when I look back, it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
Couch said the best part was keeping the enemy away from troops, and the hardest part was counting down the days. At last, Couch flew out of Vietnam July 17, 1971, almost a year to date from when he began. 
While stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., orders came down that anybody who spent a year in Vietnam or had a Vietnam Service Medal could join the National Guard. Couch filled out the paperwork and was assigned to the National Guard unit in Woonsocket. 
Couch was a Specialist Fourth Class in the National Guard. In 1972, he was called in to assist with the Rapid City Flood. 
“We went through Canyon Lake and where the golf course is now, Meadowbrook. And those big old cottonwood trees would have piles some 60-70 feet high piled up against them. We were basically supposed to tear those apart and look for bodies. We were fortunate enough to have only found three. We spent a little over a week there, and we walked Rapid Creek after that too and never found anybody,” said Couch. 
After his time in the National Guard and three years in the Army Reserves,  Couch was honorably discharged in 1976. During his time in service, he received the National Defense Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. 
Couch eventually followed his girlfriend, Patti Jo, to Custer. 
“I needed to change my ways, so I came out here, and we started growing roots, got married and the rest is history,” said Couch. They were married in 1985. 
Couch became a member of the Kenneth Kuper VFW Post 3442 in 1984 after a friend signed him up. 
“I started coming to meetings and thought it was the strangest thing I’d ever seen until I caught on to what it meant and what all we could do. Just gradually I got on a roll, and I ran for a lot of different positions and was always elected in. So it was all a godsend in a manner,” said Couch. 
Now for the last 42 years, Couch has been serving veterans through the VFW. He has been the VFW Post 3442 Commander six times, the VFW District 10 Commander All-State Captain, the VFW State Commander from 2013-14, on the VFW National Council of Administration from 2015-19, a VFW National Legislative Member from 2019-22, the VFW Memorial Park and Chapel Chair, starting in 2014, the VFW District and Post Quartermaster and so much more. Over the years, Couch has also served 12 VFW national appointments and is still serving today. 
“The VFW has been a great healing process for me. Being able to work with veterans and get them to know more about especially compensation that they have coming if they’ll just apply. It’ll make their life a little bit easier, and of course, being registered with the VA healthcare system is major to get veterans more involved with things they earn,” said Couch. 
Couch said the Custer VFW is the third largest post in the state by memberships, behind Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Today, he serves as a mentor to the quartermaster and an assistant to the adjutant and the judge advocate. 
“They still let me hang around and teach. We really got some good players, and they’re really bringing on the technology,” said Couch.
Couch said he is proud to be both a veteran and an American.
“I remember coming to the first Veterans Day program that I came to back in the days, and I didn’t realize how much mental anguish I had still tied up in my body, my mind. I sat there, and my tears just ran down my cheek,” he said. “That helped me realize more that I needed to get active and help. So Veterans Day is very special. But the bottom line is, it’s Veterans Day every day in my life. We’re here to help, whatever we can, whenever.”