Local Hero Eric Terkelsen Selected for Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.

For much of Eric Terkelsen’s adult life, the United States Army was not simply something he did. It was a defining part of who he was.

The longtime Ferndale-area resident, Vietnam combat veteran and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel has been selected to participate in a Central Valley Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., joining fellow veterans on a journey of recognition, remembrance and reflection.

Terkelsen’s military career began in 1969 when, immediately after graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. What followed was a 26-year Army career that would take him from a young platoon leader to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and include combat service in Vietnam, command assignments, engineering leadership and service to the State of California.

Early in his career, Terkelsen trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and served as a platoon leader with the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry at Fort Lewis, Washington.

He was then sent to Vietnam, where he served on the front lines as a combat platoon leader with B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division.

His Vietnam service also included an assignment with the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Eagle.

Those experiences became part of a military career that continued long after he returned home.

Terkelsen went on to serve with the 579th Engineer Battalion, first as a company executive officer and later as commanding officer of Company A. His subsequent assignments included service as a heavy-equipment officer and battalion executive officer, as well as Assistant Post Engineer at Camp Roberts, California.

He ultimately served at the state level in a G3 assignment for California and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

From his commissioning in 1969 until the conclusion of his military career in 1995, Terkelsen devoted 26 years to the United States Army, serving in positions that carried increasing levels of leadership and responsibility. During that career, he received numerous military awards and decorations.

His Honor Flight recognizes that significant chapter of his life, the years of service, leadership and sacrifice represented by a uniform he wore for more than a quarter century.

But the qualities that shaped Terkelsen’s military career did not disappear when the uniform came off.

Terkelsen has lived in and around the Ferndale community throughout his life. He worked in his family’s metal-building construction business and later operated his own metal-building business, building a life in the same community he continued to serve.

Since the mid-1970s, Terkelsen has been involved with American Legion Post 559 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, serving in numerous leadership roles and continuing a commitment to veterans that has now spanned decades.

He has assisted veterans and their families during times of need, participated in veteran stand-downs, supported Boys State sponsorships, and helped place flags and wreaths at area cemeteries to ensure those who served are remembered.

When natural disasters and other emergencies have affected communities locally and throughout California, Terkelsen has also stepped forward to assist with response and recovery efforts.

He gave his time to future generations as well, coaching youth football and baseball in Ferndale for many years.

And while his military record speaks to leadership and responsibility, those who know Eric also know another side of him.

He is a lifelong jokester who loves making people laugh. Even during difficult times, Eric has a way of finding humor. He is someone people are naturally drawn to, quick with a joke, willing to lend a hand, and often able to bring a little laughter when it is needed most.

That willingness to step forward for others has extended deeply into his family and community.

Eric raised four children and has remained deeply involved with generations of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Over the years, he has repeatedly stepped forward to raise and serve as guardian and kinship caregiver for grandchildren and great-grandchildren who needed him.

But the open door of the Terkelsen home was never limited to family.

Throughout the years, children from the surrounding community who needed stability, support or simply a safe place to land found a home there. Through kinship care and other circumstances, Eric and his family welcomed and cared for children during difficult periods in their lives, quietly providing the kind of help that rarely receives public recognition.

Eric continues that commitment today as an adoptive parent to two of his great-grandchildren.

For his family, all of these chapters are connected by something very simple: when someone needs help, Eric shows up.

“I think those of us who have known him our entire lives sometimes forget just how extraordinary his story is because, to us, he is simply Dad or Papa,” his daughter said. “This Honor Flight is an opportunity for him to be recognized not only for his military service, but for a lifetime of showing up for other people.”

Central Valley Honor Flight provides veterans with an opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., and visit the memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice. More than a journey to see the nation’s memorials, the Honor Flight experience can provide opportunities for remembrance, connection, reflection and healing among veterans who share the bond of military service.

For veterans like Eric, that remembrance also honors the men and women with whom they served, including comrades who never returned home. It is an opportunity to remember those whose sacrifices remain part of our nation’s history while celebrating the veterans who are here to make the journey today.

The program is made possible through the generosity and support of community donations. Terkelsen is joining 67 other veterans on his Honor Flight, representing generations of American military service.

While this Honor Flight recognizes Eric’s remarkable 26 years of military service, his family hopes his story also serves as a celebration of all veterans, including those traveling alongside him, those who have made the journey before him, and veterans throughout our communities whose service and sacrifices deserve continued recognition and gratitude.

For Eric’s family, there is particular meaning in seeing someone who has spent decades recognizing, assisting and honoring other veterans now receive that recognition himself.

The journey also brings his story full circle: from a young Second Lieutenant commissioned in 1969 and sent to Vietnam, to a retired Lieutenant Colonel traveling to the nation’s capital alongside fellow veterans to visit the memorials that preserve the history, sacrifice and memory of those who served.

The Terkelsen family hopes friends, neighbors, fellow veterans, former players, business acquaintances and others throughout the community who have crossed paths with Eric over the years will join them in celebrating this special recognition.

Community members are encouraged to share a positive message, congratulations or a favorite memory of Eric in recognition of this honor.

For a man who has spent much of his life serving his country, and who has spent the decades since continuing to serve veterans, his community and his family, the Honor Flight offers an opportunity for those around him to give something back:

Recognition, gratitude and a heartfelt thank you for a lifetime of service.…Read more by Staff