Retired elementary schoolteacher Durward Azbell during his years of military service during the Viet Nam War.

Tomorrow is Veterans’ Day, a day when our entire nation honors those who have served in the United States military. On this day, I like to remember those brave military veterans who have also served in the classroom. One of these is Durward Azbell, a retired elementary teacher from Ohio. He served in the US Army during the Viet Nam War.

Durward grew up in Columbus, Ohio. He was the youngest of three children raised by his widowed mother. “I was nine, going on ten, when my father committed suicide after an accident left him in severe back pain,” Durward once revealed. “He was an enigma to me, because I knew he was an Army veteran who served in Germany during World War II, but I never really got to hear his stories or understand him,” he said.

When Durward grew up, he was drafted and served three years in the US Army as a Specialist E-5. He was stationed in Viet Nam in what he described as the “very secure” base of Long Binh. Durward considers himself one of the lucky ones. “The only danger I saw was when the Viet Cong blew up our ammo dump,” he confesses. But he appreciates his fellow veterans who, in his opinion, made sacrifices greater than his own. “Those were the true heroes,” he says.

After completing his military service, Durward returned to his home state of Ohio. There he became a fourth grade schoolteacher in Columbus. “I believe the time spent teaching children is the best way a person could spend his or her life,” Durward once asserted. His career as an educator spanned 36 years.

Thank you for your service, Durward, both in the military and in the classroom.

To read more about this chalkboard hero, click on this link: PBS Durward Azbell.