Pentwater resident Daniel Hoekstra recently embarked on an incredible journey of remembrance, traveling nearly 4,500 miles to Vicenza, Italy, to visit the place where his late father was honored in 1967.
Hoekstra is the eighth of nine children born to Melvin E. and Kathryn Hoekstra, who raised their family on a series of military bases in the U.S. and Europe. “I could list all the bases and tell you which children were born at each of them,” Dan said with a smile as he shared part of his family history. “On each base we called home, my siblings and I attended the Department of Defense School System. I attended military schools through fifth grade.”
His father, Melvin, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1920 and entered military service in 1941 shortly after high school. He served with the 28th Infantry Division in Europe during WWII, entering Normandy on Day 3 of the invasion. He suffered serious injuries while fighting in the Hürtgen Forest in Belgium and spent 18 months recovering at Gardiner General Hospital in Chicago. Following his recuperation, he served as First Sergeant at Gardiner Hospital and then at other U.S. hospitals until 1952. Holding up troop morale was an important task, and one avenue he used was sports. He made a connection with the Chicago Cubs that resulted in their sending him their used equipment for troops to use. He had posts in Germany and Colorado.
He was promoted to Sergeant Major in 1960 and spent four years as the Post Sergeant Major at the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1965 he was assigned to the base at Vicenza, where he was Command Sergeant Major of the Southern European Task Force (SETAF), responsible for U.S. troops in Southern Europe and Africa.
Dan was 10-12 years old when his family lived in Vicenza, and he recalled two clear memories. One memory was of the ranch house they occupied. “It was a duplex that was altered with an opening between the two sides to provide a home big enough to accommodate our large family.”
The second memory was watching the frequent landing and lifting of helicopters on the base parade field that came to pick up his father and deliver him to destinations far and wide. “The helicopters came only to transport Sergeant Majors. All other personnel had to access and use nearby airports.”
Sergeant Major Hoekstra’s military career was cut short by illness. “He had a form of anemia that can be treated and survived today. But it was lethal for him in 1966. First admitted to the local hospital in Vicenza, Dad was transferred to a hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, where he died two days later on Nov. 13,” Dan explained.
Kathryn Hoekstra returned to Grand Rapids with her children, and her husband’s body arrived two weeks later. She did not want him buried at Arlington Cemetery but chose a gravesite in Grand Rapids where she could visit as frequently as she wished. His funeral included an honor guard from Washington, D.C. Dan reported, “It was attended by every Sergeant Major east of the Mississippi.”
Saluted by an honor guard at his funeral, Hoekstra was also honored in Vicenza in 1967. The staff at Vicenza had admired and deeply respected him, describing him as “indispensable.” His speech to newly assigned enlisted men under his command was a warm and encouraging address. The Ederle News quoted part of his welcome speech: “I would like to extend a particular welcome to the newly assigned enlisted men…SETAF, together with the Italian military forces of Landsouth, acts as a powerful support arm of NATO and the enlisted men play a significant role…your tour in Italy will be rewarding, both professionally and personally, only if you make it so. Your attitude, actions, and desires will dictate the degree of your enjoyment during your stay in Italy. The importance of our role as a SETAF soldier cannot be overemphasized…”
The high regard for Hoekstra was officially recognized in 1967 when the Vicenza command parade field was named “Hoekstra Field, Dedicated in Honor of Sergeant Major Melvin E. Hoekstra, 7 July, 1967.” Dan’s oldest brother, Tom, then a 2nd Lieutenant stationed in Erlangen, Germany, was flown to Vicenza to participate in the dedication honoring his father.
As an adult, Dan’s bucket list included revisiting Vicenza and seeing the field dedicated in his father’s honor. With each passing year, the trip gained more urgency. This fall he and his wife, Lin, invited their friends Phil and Roxann Frame to join them on a Viking river cruise in Europe followed by a side trip to Vicenza, Italy. He contacted the Public Assistance Officer at the SETAF base in Vicenza to make arrangements. His call was followed up by a call from his brother Tom, by now a Major, to the current Sergeant Major (Paluso) at the base.
Hoekstra’s party of four was overwhelmed by the royal welcome they received. The hotel reservations they had made were upgraded to presidential suites. They were given a grand tour of the entire base. Dan was interviewed by the American Forces Network Radio (AFN) about his father, how the base looked when he had lived there, and what differences he saw now. It was an amazing experience none of them will ever forget.
The Hoekstra family claims five generations of military service, each a role model for those who followed. Dan’s grandfather and father preceded him, Dan himself served several years in the Navy, and his son and grandsons followed him. One of his prized possessions is a gift he received from his siblings. It is a shadow box that displays all of his father’s medals (11), including a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Reflecting quietly for a moment, he states with pride, “My father was a ‘Soldier’s Soldier.’”
