T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Patrick Kovacs, right, poses with St. Clairsville American Legion Commander Larry Barnes, who recognized Kovacs as the legion’s veteran of the month. He was a combat engineer in Vietnam.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — As a sergeant in the U.S. Army, 14th Combat Engineers, Patrick Kovacs of Flushing fought to maintain infrastructure for the troops while under fire by the Viet Cong.

Kovacs is the St. Clairsville American Legion’s veteran of the month. He recalls having a grim look at the war before shipping out, when he was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

“I was on the burial detail down there, and it was a pretty sad moment because I was doing burial on guys that was coming from Vietnam, knowing that I was going to Vietnam. It made for a rough couple months down there,” he said.

He shipped out in September 1966 and served in Vietnam through 1967. His first assignment was building a reception center for new soldiers, but that did not last long.

“A few months into that, we was told to load up and move out. They’d blown bridges up. We went to repair bridges and build bridges,” he said. “Every two or three weeks to a month we was always moving, either to help support the 101st Airborne, I was on a lot of big operations with them. I was attached to the artillery to clear ways for the artillery,” he said.

He was also assigned to clear areas for the Marines.

“It was never a dull moment in the year that I was over there. I just was constantly repairing, moving, getting shot at, mortared, but it was well worth it for the time with my men,” Kovacs said.

He was a squad leader in charge of eight men.

“I was proud to say that I never lost a man out of the whole deal over there,” he said. “It makes me feel real proud to say I took the guys through their tour and they got to go home.”

Kovacs and his squad worked under poor conditions and relentless opposition.

“We’d build a bridge, and we’d no more get the bridge built than they’d blow the bridge up. We’d fix a road and they’d landmine it and blow the road up. It was just a constant battle to keep things open for the different troops,” he said.

“I went through three monsoons over there,” he said. “Your clothes would rot off your back because we were in the jungle and not getting supplies. We did the best we could do with what we had.”

There were many tight situations.

“We was pinned down a couple times and not being able to get any food. We just about ran completely out of food and was worried about having to shoot wild animals, but we finally got it cleared so we could get a helicopter to bring stuff in to us,” he said. “We were pretty well surrounded.”

“It was never-ending,” he said. “One particular time, it was on a Sunday morning, we went in on an operation and we drove across all the bridges, got to our destination, and they blow all the bridges out, so we had no bridges to go back on. We had to start building bridges to come back.”

This was true even on some of the scenic islands.

“It was beautiful to see the clear blue water, but there was VC everywhere,” he said.

Kovacs still deals with post traumatic stress disorder. He said he values the camaraderie of his fellow veterans.

“We lean on each other,” he said.

“It was an experience the Vietnam veterans as brothers in war will never forget, and we always acknowledge each other when we meet up,” he said.

“A lot of guys will say ‘I missed Vietnam,’ we’d tell them, ‘You didn’t miss nothing. It wasn’t a vacation,'” he said. “It’s a sad moment in life to see your brothers in arms being hauled out of there dead in a body bag.”

Kovacs is a native of Flushing and still resides there. In civilian life he worked in the mining field.

When he talks to students considering service, he always advises them to make the most of their training.

“I learned a lot in engineering,” he said. “You need to get into the service and learn something you can use after you come home.”