LONGMONT —The surviving Schultz brothers aren’t much on marking , as befits men who were raised in the modest, taciturn tradition of rural Minnesota. But they do share a bond that sets them apart every Nov. 11: They were 10 brothers who served their country in the military from the World War II era through Korea and the early days of Vietnam.
Four live in Colorado: Gene, Vern and twins Dave and Don. A fifth, Roger, lives in Minnesota.
They are the five surviving sons of Gregor George Schultz, a first-generation Polish-American who fought in the trenches during World War I. At 86, Gene is the oldest remaining brother. He saw combat in Korea, and his approach to the military is similar to that of his brothers.
“I was helping my dad on the farm, and all my buddies had joined,” he recalled on a late fall morning. “I had an agriculture deferment, but I didn’t want that anymore. So I let it lapse and was drafted.”
From 1952 to 1954, he was in the Army, where he fought in an artillery unit.
Families with such histories of military service are not unprecedented. Brothers often even served in the same unit during the 19th century; the two brothers of George Armstrong Custer died at the Battle of Little Bighorn. .
Talk with the Schultz brothers, and you don’t hear talk about martial spirit.
“We never talked about the Army,” said Dave, the next-to-last brother to serve. “I can’t remember ever sitting at the table and talking about it. We’d all been there.”
But military service is a family tradition, even though their father — who survived a German gas attack in the in World War I — didn’t encourage his sons to enlist.
“He was kind of against it,” said Gene, who made a career in the construction business after Korea and lives in Longmont with his wife, Bonita. “He wanted me to stay on the farm.”
The siblings’ oldest brother, Felix Hubert, fought in Europe during World War II and was there for Germany’s surrender. He is no longer alive. Neither are brothers Leo George (Army), Alfred Marvin (Air Force), Quentin Cecil (Army) and Leroy Bernard (Army).
But the remaining brothers — who, like their late siblings, all came home safely — are glad they served.
“Joining the Army woke me up,” Gene said. “I’d never been much more than 100 miles from home.
“I was never sorry I joined the service. It was a big experience for me.”
His brother Vern tells the same story. He volunteered for the Army from 1957 to 1960. He served first in the artillery, then in a missile unit. His hitch included a Cold War stint in West Germany that reminded him of the scenery he saw during basic training at Fort Carson.
“I think a military hitch is good,” said Vern, who lives in Loveland with his wife, Fran. “I think everybody should serve in the service. But it’s not that way anymore. Back then, you could enlist or be drafted.”
Vern signed up after high school. He was looking for work, but employers seemed leery of hiring him when they found out he hadn’t served, concerned that he would be snapped away from them by the draft.
“It educated me a lot,” Vern said. “Coming off a farm, I was thrown in with a bunch of people, many of them from the big city.
“I got to know a lot of different cultures and what they’re all about. You learn that pretty soon.”
After mustering out in 1960, he worked as a civilian contractor at a Minuteman missile facility in South Dakota. He moved to Colorado, where he worked in construction and as a mechanic.
The two youngest Schultz brothers are identical twins Dave and Don, 74. (Dave is older by a few minutes and enjoys kidding his “younger” brother about it.)
Growing up on the family farm in Wells, Minn., Dave said the experience prepared him for his Army hitch (1960-62), where he served in France.
“It was a good place to be raised,” said Dave, a widower living in Longmont. “We had three ‘first sergeants’ in the family: my dad, my mom and my sister, Vicky. She was 18 years older and sort of raised us.”
Like his twin brother, Dave put in for the draft.
“I think the farm gave me an edge in basic training,” he said. “The Army was a really good experience for people with a lot of discipline.”
He served 17 months in Europe in a construction battalion. He later worked as a carpenter and millwright at Denver International Airport.
His brother Don was the last of the 10 to serve. He was in the Army from 1962 to 1963 and lives in Berthoud with his wife, Laura.
Don served as a rifleman on a mountain team at Fort Carson. “It was a lot of rappeling and really good stuff,” he said. “To me it was a lot like hiking.”
He, too, eventually went into construction.
A third generation of the family served as well: Larry Sonnek, Vicky’s son, was an Army chaplain during the early 1970s, and Dave’s son Tracy retired from the National Guard in October.
Again, family tradition.
“I think it’s a pretty uncommon story, that many brothers serving,” said Gene’s oldest daughter, Margo Colalancia.
“We just kind of followed in the footsteps of our older brothers and father,” her Uncle Don said. “There was no push or shove. But it was worth it, looking back on it. Service was service, and you just did your duty. And that was that.”
A grin creased Don’s face.
“Growing up on the farm, Dad always said, ‘Make sure you save the horses. The men we can draft.’ “
William Porter: 303-954-1877, wporter@denverpost.com or @williamporterdp
