For his indefatigable service and relentless commitment to area veterans, Al Ockert was named Veteran of the Year.
The Korean War veteran and retired Air Force Airman First Class was surprised during a ceremony on Veteran's Day when the Grand Traverse Veteran's Coalition bestowed the honor on him.
"The coalition is supposed to represent 8,500 veterans in this area and to be picked out of 8,500 veterans is a great honor,” said Ockert, who served in Korea for a year.
A quiet man, Al is commander of the Korean War Veteran's local chapter, a member of the Honor Guard for the VFW Post 2780 and the Korean War Vets, helps at the VFW's weekly BINGO and serves as Sergeant at Arms for both the VFW and the coalition.
Where ever and when ever something needs doing, Ockert is involved somehow. His philosophy is, "They call, I go.”
"Every organization he belongs to he's either an officer or the number one guy that's doing something,” said Larry Butcher, president of the Grand Traverse Veterans Coalition, an umbrella organization of veteran's organizations in Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.
"Just like any organization, some folks do more than others — Al does so much I don't know where he gets all the time,” he added. "I just really got to know him in the last year and he's something special.”
The Grand Traverse Veteran's Coalition, which formed in August of 2005 and includes 23 organizations, also named Rico's Café as business of the year. Every year the Grawn-based restaurant owned by Rick Dubro throws open its doors on Veterans Day and feeds vets for free. Veterans and their families come from all over the region for the acknowledgement as well as socializing.
"It makes your heart beat good,” said Butcher, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War. "What was really neat, if a guy came in and was alone the hostess seated him with someone else and they walked out friends.”
A Traverse City native whose father served in World War I, Ockert grew up as his older family members served in World War II, including brothers, brothers-in-law and cousins. When he was 17, he quit school over his parents' objections and joined the Air Force. He already knew how to fly thanks to years in the Civil Air Patrol and, while he never was a pilot in the military, he knew he wanted to be around planes.
"My parents and the recruiter tried to talk me out of it,” he recalled of his quitting school, although he earned his equivalency degree in night school after his service.
The Air Force was so new that Ockert recalls a trip home for Christmas when the new blue uniforms confused people.
"I was one of the first ones with the blue uniform and I was waiting in the bus station in Chicago and people came up and asked me what the bus times were,” he said. "They thought I was a driver.”
Ockert wound up in Korea, landing in Pusan on Thanksgiving Day of 1951, where he served for 12 months doing electrical work for an ammunition supply squadron. While he considered making a career of the Air Force, he chose to get out after three years of active duty; he then served another six years in the reserves.
Returning home, Ockert married his wife, Irene, on Christmas Day 1954 and they raised four children. He retired from Elmer's Asphalt after a combined 40-year career with various companies as an operating engineer.
Now busy with innumerable veterans-related projects, Ockert looks to the future of veteran's organizations.
"We're trying to get the Iraq guys involved, but they're not ready yet,” he said.