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Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
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November 2023 #15292 Page #138
The Last Word on Our Veterans Joe Kannapell, P.E.
W
ars seem to surround us today, but this has been the case since the founding of our country and our industry. While we are troubled by today’s calamities, we should stop and reflect on those who have fought these wars, especially on this coming Veterans Day, November 11.
Take the case of Cal Jureit, founder of Gang-Nail, who was born at the end of World War I, and during our nation’s worst pandemic, which killed, on a percentage basis, about twice as many Americans as Covid. Jureit, the son of bakers, chose to interrupt his education and join the Navy’s Seabees, spending two years in a construction unit in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He had to be inspired by his unit’s motto, “We Build. We Fight. Can Do!”, which is he what he did for our industry after his war service and after he finished his engineering education at Georgia Tech. Just as Jim Adams did, founder of J.D. Adams, who flew 50 missions, serving during most of that war. As did Bob Mort, founder of Interlock Steel, who served with an American unit alongside the Australian Infantry. These men literally dodged bullets, so starting a business couldn’t have been as stressful as their wartime experiences. Soon after these heroes came home, another group of Americans left for the Korean conflict, including the colorful Charlie Vaccaro, later of Alpine, who received 2 bronze stars and the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB). This Badge is a particularly noteworthy distinction, indicating that Vaccaro led a unit in combat in this brutal conflict. Surely, he was shaped by this tough tour, and took the motto of the Seventh Infantry Division to heart, “Trust in Me,” as attested by John Herring, who founded and still runs A-1 Roof Trusses, and so many others.
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