FAMILY'S HISTORY IS OF SERVICE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A long history of military service follows Calvin Lynch's family, beginning in World War I and continuing through Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East.

"It seems like every generation has its war," Lynch said. "I'm sure we are just one of many other families which are the same way."

He said his family's military service is nothing unusual. "We just believe in freedom," he said. "I can't understand these people protesting. I'm sure this is what we need to be doing."

Service to the military began during World War I when Lynch's father, John B. Lynch, served with the infantry in France.

Today Lynch's son, Brian, is serving in the Army near the border of Kuwait.

"In World War I, they had it rough," Lynch said. "I remember my father telling us the food was very poor and they didn't have good equipment or even equipment to protect them from the elements.

"I remember one thing he told me. There used to be Bull Durham tobacco the soldiers smoked, but none of them had any money to buy it. The Red Cross had the tobacco. After it got molded, they put it out for the troops to take."

"Fortunately he wasn't injured and came home safe. He was single when he was over there."

Lynch and his two brothers, Macon and Garland, served in World War II.

"My brother, Macon, was in the Navy. He was chief petty officer on the Saratoga. Then he left the Navy and went into the Army. He said he was tired of the sea," Lynch said. His brother made the military his career.

"Garland was in the Army in the South Pacific and Philippines," he continued. "And I was in the Merchant Marines."

Lynch served in the South Pacific, the Far East and then in the Persian Gulf.

"I was in the Persian Gulf where my son is now," he said.

Lynch said his ship was transporting oil from Iraq for military use.

"We thought hell was just over the next sand dune," he recalled. "When we took our shoes off, it was so hot on the decks, the toes would turn up and get dry. We would have to put them in water to loosen them up so we could get our shoes back on."

He said crewmen fainted on deck because of the heat. "And the water was so hot it wouldn't cool the ship's engine oil. We had to travel at half-ahead."

"I enlisted. It was the thing to do then," he said.

Another of Lynch's brothers, Donald, served in the Army after World War II in occupied Germany.

"I lost a little brother in Korea," he said. "My youngest brother, Johnny, was 19 years old when killed over there. He was in the Army.

"They were on a night reconnaissance patrol when he got hit. It was a `seek and seizure' program," Lynch explained. "They were trying to find a prisoner to bring back and interrogate. None of the seven men in his patrol made it."

Lynch's oldest son, Ronald, served in Vietnam. "He was drafted and they had him in the infantry," Lynch said. "They went into Cambodia and only five were not hurt. He was one of the five."

After that mission, Lynch explained, the Army discovered a paperwork mishap. Ronald was a surgical nurse and should not have been in the infantry at all. "They put him in a MASH unit where he served the rest of the time."

"He made it through and everything was okay," Lynch said.

Another of Lynch's sons, Terry, a military police officer, was headed for Vietnam also. "He got to Hawaii and they stopped him there. He spent his time in Hawaii. He was the safest of the bunch."

Now, his son, Brian, is serving in the Army near the Kuwaiti border.

"He went to ROTC and got his commission. He is with the 75th field artillery," Lynch said.

"We haven't heard from him for a couple of weeks."

Lynch has spent a lot of time following events in the gulf.

Brian's wife and two children are at Fort Sill, Okla. "They are trying to hold the fort down," Lynch said.

Lynch's youngest son is attending electronics school in Evansville, Ind. "He has another year of school and right now he's not interested in the service."

Lynch said his experience in the Persian Gulf helps him understand what his son is experiencing.

"It's rough over there," he said. "I can tell you it's like no picnic over there.

"Brian said it's not sand any more. It's been ground so fine its more like dust. And the insects get into everything. He asks for ziplock bags to keep the insects out. He has to sleep with netting over his face to keep the insects off.

"It's cold at night and hot during the day. He gets one hot meal a day which has to be flown 180 miles by helicopter to where he is."

But despite the hardship his son is experiencing, Lynch said he believes what his son is doing is right.

"We never encouraged them to join," Lynch said. "They made up their own minds about that.

"But, other than war, you can't beat the service with the benefits and salaries. It's a good thing," he said. "But when you sign up you agree that if something happens you'll be ready to go. You have to expect it."

Lynch said he disagrees with reservists and other military personnel attempting to avoid service in the gulf. "They wanted the money and benefits but now they want to back off and run. I just don't understand."