Memory Project

Interview with Vern Ruttan

Published Online August 3, 2022

Last Edited August 3, 2022

This testimony is part of the Memory Project Archive

Interview with Vern Ruttan
Bottom left: Vern Ruttan's brothers, Russel and Clem, while they were training at Camp Borden. Top left: Russel Ruttan (centre) at Ortona with fellow soldiers. Right: Vern Ruttan in the field. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Bottom left: Vern Ruttan's brothers, Russel and Clem, while they were training at Camp Borden. Top left: Russel Ruttan (centre) at Ortona with fellow soldiers. Right: Vern Ruttan in the field. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Bottom left: Vern Ruttan's brothers, Russel and Clem, while they were training at Camp Borden. Top left: Russel Ruttan (centre) at Ortona with fellow soldiers. Right: Vern Ruttan in the field. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Bottom left: Vern Ruttan's brothers, Russel and Clem, while they were training at Camp Borden. Top left: Russel Ruttan (centre) at Ortona with fellow soldiers. Right: Vern Ruttan in the field. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Vern Ruttan
Vern Ruttan
Vern Ruttan in his Navy uniform. Mr. Ruttan later went on to serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force and Army and the United States Marine Corps. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Vern Ruttan
Vern Ruttan serving at Huy, c. 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Vern Ruttan serving at Huy, c. 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Vern Ruttan serving at Huy, c. 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
Vern Ruttan serving at Huy, c. 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
US Military citiations: The Air Medal, for participating in more than 25 missions (left) and the Navy Cross, for the destruction of an enemy tank. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
US Military citiations: The Air Medal, for participating in more than 25 missions (left) and the Navy Cross, for the destruction of an enemy tank. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
US Military citiations: The Air Medal, for participating in more than 25 missions (left) and the Navy Cross, for the destruction of an enemy tank. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
US Military citiations: The Air Medal, for participating in more than 25 missions (left) and the Navy Cross, for the destruction of an enemy tank. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
An X-Ray of Vern Ruttan's hand with a piece of shrapnel visible. Mr. Ruttan was wounded at Hill 881 south in Vietname in 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
An X-Ray of Vern Ruttan's hand with a piece of shrapnel visible. Mr. Ruttan was wounded at Hill 881 south in Vietname in 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
An X-Ray of Vern Ruttan's hand with a piece of shrapnel visible. Mr. Ruttan was wounded at Hill 881 south in Vietname in 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
An X-Ray of Vern Ruttan's hand with a piece of shrapnel visible. Mr. Ruttan was wounded at Hill 881 south in Vietname in 1968. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
A recent photo of Vern Ruttan in dress uniform and with his medals, that include a United States Purple Heart. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
A recent photo of Vern Ruttan in dress uniform and with his medals, that include a United States Purple Heart. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
A recent photo of Vern Ruttan in dress uniform and with his medals, that include a United States Purple Heart. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
A recent photo of Vern Ruttan in dress uniform and with his medals, that include a United States Purple Heart. Courtesy of Vern Ruttan.
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My name is Vern Ruttan. I was in the Navy for five years. I served on the Bonaventure and in the Middle East, Gaza, with the UN. Then I got out after five years and joined the Air Force. I was in the Air Force as an armament systems tech for three years. When I got out of that, I worked for a while in civilian electronics shops, and then I went into the US Marines. Being a Native, I could live in the States and my company sent me down there to work, and I got drafted after four months, so it was either come home or go. We had enough draft dodgers in Canada, so I went. I didn't want to end up in Vietnam, but I did. I came home after two tours and I got a discharge, and then back to civilian life. I had a brother in the Navy. A Korean veteran. He was on the Haida in Korea. He did eighteen years in the Navy. I had a brother in the Air Force. He did about eighteen years as an air traffic controller. My younger brother, he was in the Army – the Royal Canadian Regiment. He did a tour in Germany in the early sixties. I had a father and several uncles in the Second World War. My father and my uncle Clem, they were in Italy, and they're proud to call themselves 'D-Day Dodgers'. Uncle Vernon and uncle Verton, the twins, they joined at sixteen and got caught. They were held, one in Canada and one in England, until they turned seventeen. My grandfather, he was in the First War at a place called Vimy, and my grandmother was a nurse at a place called Ypres. We were all Native vets and proud of it. The Armed Forces isn't for everybody, but it certainly was for me and my family. It is a great life, other than combat, which is part of the deal if you join. It is a great place. The camaraderie… You have adventures that the rich can only dream of when you're in the Armed Forces. It's the things that you do and the trades that you learn. I learned electronics and I finished my university in the Navy, and in the Air Force I finished my Master's. It was free; you just had to do it at night in those days. It's good if it's the thing for you.