Duty and Consequence
by Dena Firkins
Jack R Gulden (source: swanassoc.com)
Jack with his wife Francis (source: swanassoc.com)
Jack R. Gulden
July 18, 1947-February 25, 2009
Jack Robert Gulden was born in Trenton, New Jersey on July 18, 1947, following World War Two. With the United States engaged in proxy wars in the midst of the Cold War, Jack and many like him were drafted or volunteered to join the US military. After finishing high school in 1966, Jack was enlisted with the Marines Corps, where he was sent to Parris Island in North Carolina.[1]
Parris Island was originally used to as a cotton and indigo plantation until the Civil War, when it was seized by the Union Army and used as coaling station for the Navy’s ships. The Navy had control of the island until 1915, when it transferred the land to the Marine Corps to use as a training base for Marine recruits. Like many military training bases, Parris Island saw a boom of recruits shortly after Pearl Harbor. The number of recruits remained high for the Korean and Vietnam wars; so much so that, between 1962 and 1973, the 12-week trainings were cut to only 10 weeks before soldiers were sent to their post.[2]
Jack served from 1966 to 1969, witnessing two years of combat in Vietnam. As a Marine, Jack was part of a large-scale operation that saw more than 70,000 Marines in Vietnam by 1966. Stuck in bloody battles against the Vietcong, Marines bore the brunt of military casualties and were engaged in heavy combat that was televised, diminishing American public support for the war. With the Marines locked in combat for a good majority of the war, over 500,000 Marines served in Southeast Asia, just like Jack.[3] After his tour, he met his wife, Francis Ruth Gulden, and they had two sons, Jack Robert Jr., and Robert Jack. They found their way to Morrison, Colorado, in the 1980’s, where they settled in and settled down.[4]
Some men dedicate only that portion of their lives that they have signed into the hands of the military. Others dedicate their lives to help other veterans and to stand in remembrance of the fallen, missing, and unidentified. After to moving to Colorado, Jack joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars department in Morrison, Colorado, where he worked tireless to continuously honor fallen heroes and encourage the living heroes around him.
Jack had a particular focus on remembering and honoring POW/MIA soldiers. He played a major part in making an Honor Guard part of the POW/MIA table ceremony, honoring prisoners of war and soldiers that went missing in action. Even if they have not been found, the Honor Guard honors fallen veterans, and are most often seen at veteran funerals and burials. The Honor Guard presents national and state flags, folds the national flag into 13 parts, (and in the case of funerals, hands the folded flag to the deceased’s closest loved one) and presents the 21-armed salute, a group of seven men firing three volleys at the same time.
He was also the state chairman for POW/MIA, as well as Captain of the State Color Guard. He volunteered with Buddy Poppy donation drives, in an effort to raise money to support veterans that should have been taken care of by their government that sent them to war in the first place[5]. Between his initial joining of the VFW in 1995 and his death in 2009, Jack worked hard to support his brothers and sisters in arms.
Jack’s lasting legacy, apart from the impact he made on countless individuals, is a blood and cancer fund that he established to originally help with the expenses of blood transfusion. Like many others, Jack was affected by Agent Orange, a pesticide used during the offense against Vietnam to target and harm Vietnamese troops. A nasty chemical with incredibly harmful side effects, Agent Orange affected service members who came into contact with it. The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund began an “In Memory” honor roll to honor soldiers that passed after the war due to Agent Orange. Applications and proof that a service member was detrimentally affected by Agent Orange must be submitted before being approved. Their names and stories are commemorated in a lasting legacy in this online database. Because his illness was the result of exposure to Agent Orange, Jack’s name is on the “In Memory” honor roll. Since Jack Gulden’s passing, the blood fund has opened into a fund to help members and associates of the VFW with the costs of cancer. Named the Ralph W. Emerson/ Jack Gulden Memorial Blood and Cancer Fund, members can apply for a relief grant up to $500.[6] Even in his death, Jack’s dedication to helping the veterans around him continues to live on.
Footnotes ↓
[1] Jack R. Gulden, Ancestry.com, "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Trenton Central High School; Year: 1966.
[2] “History of Parris Island”, Official Marines Website, mcrdpi.marines.mil, 2019.
[3] “The U.S. Marine Corps in the Vietnam War.” USMC History Division, vietnamwar50th.com (history and legacy, fact sheets, U.S. Marine Corps)
[4] “In Memory Honor Roll: Jack Robert Gulden.” Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund, vvfm.org/Honor-Roll/JackRobertGulden/.
[5] The Buddy Poppy, trademarked imitation red poppies that are created by disabled and in-need veterans to help with income, has been in existence since 1922. According to the VFW, it has been trademarked since 1924, and has continued to offer a way for disabled and needy veterans to earn some financial assistance for making the poppies.
[6] “Ralph W. Emerson/Jack Gulden Memorial Blood and Cancer Fund”, Colorado Veteran and Auxiliary News, vfw.org, VFW 2019.
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