“We have a family of veterans,” said Jack Heng as he pointed to a picture of his father in World War I. “From World War I, just about everybody served.”
Heng reminisced while looking at pictures of his uncles and brothers-in-law that served in both World Wars, and a couple nephews that served in the Gulf War.
Heng volunteered for the Army draft in January of 1954, over a year after the Korean War came to an end.  During his time in Korea, one of his highlights was being a competitive rifle shooter. Heng talked about his daily responsibilities as a company clerk in the days of typewriters when no erasures or strikeovers were allowed.
“I was sent to headquarters and was to put out a Battalion newsletter,” Heng said. “It was like we did in high school…it took me about a half a day a week to produce. It was a boring job.”
That’s when Heng came across an opportunity to join competitive rifle shooting, eventually making his way to the top of the rifle shooters in the Far East.
“I won the Korean matches and we sent a team of five to Sendai, Japan to the 8th Army matches, then we flew back to Korea,” Heng said. “I was invited back to Sendai to try out for the 8th Army team, which I made.”
Back in the states, Heng also made a name for himself at the national matches in Ohio, placing second out of 960 competitors. His name was on the leaderboards.
Heng remembers after his 30-day leave, he was sent to Fort Sheridan in California to work at the stockades. His duties involved taking newly arrested soldiers’ statements, fingerprinting them, and putting them in jail.

Knowing he wasn’t in it for the long haul, Heng served his time until being discharged in December of 1955 and returned home to Chana.
Life after the Army
Heng worked for a company in Oregon for four months before planting season began and never looked back. His family is now in their fifth generation of farming.
In between, Heng also married and him and his wife, DeeDee, had three children.
He also dabbled in real estate brokering during the winter seasons before officially retiring from farming about 20 years ago, turning it over to his youngest son and still volunteers during planting and harvesting seasons.
Heng has been a member of the Eastern Lee-Ogle Honor Guard for the past 40 years, attending local veterans’ funeral services, and also volunteers at the Shed where he refurbishes old furniture.
Reflecting on his young-at-heart age of 84, he has seen many changes and is grateful to have served in the U.S. Army. He is also grateful to be a part of the long line of generational farming.
“I’m awfully glad I served. Even though I was a farmer and my dad was old and I could have got the deferment, he served his time and I served my time. It was never mentioned to me not to serve,” Heng said. “It was an experience and I’m glad I did.”