Military service was one of many life experiences for Tucker

Chester Tucker will be the first one to tell you he didn’t serve in a war. Yet, the 93-year-old veteran did serve 44 months in the Army overseas in Germany – after World War II.

“I joined June 10, 1948. I was 20 years old and I was stationed at Hamburg,” he said. “I was in the 26th infantry regiment.”

Tucker, who was from Stigler, OK, at the time, said he joined because in those days, “you just couldn’t find a good job. It’s one of those crazy things. I wished I hadn’t, but if I hadn’t, I’d probably have been in the Korean War.”

He only wanted to serve two years, but was locked in for four years. He recalls those days with vivid detail. Photographs tell some of the story, Tucker fills in the rest with his memories. Picking up a photo showing helmets of his fellow servicemen, he shared, “This was a girl riding her bicycle along the road. We were in the back of the truck and I took this photo.” Another photo shows two young men in their dress greens.

“I loaned him $800. He paid me back $84 a month. I tried to get him out of debt, but he went right back in. That’s how you know he’s a buddy.”

Many of the old black and white photos show scenes of barracks, maneuvers and even nights out on the town.

“We went over on a ship, and came back on a ship. Now they just fly. We spent 18 days on a ship.” One of his best memories was his training and flying in an airplane for a week. “Everyone had to tie just one knot to secure the jeeps in the plane. We’d have it done in a minute or so.”

Tucker was one of 11 children and he, along with his best buddy who shared the same last name, Benny Joe Tucker, enlisted. While Chester landed in D company, the other Tucker was assigned to C company. “He ended up with a real good job, driving his commanding officer around.”

Chester was okay with the fact that he was out in the fields. Even though the war was over, there was still plenty of guard duty. Tucker was a gunner for a 57 Recoilless Rifle. “We had a competition and I won it every year.” (The M18 recoilless rifle is a 57mm shoulder-fired, anti-tank rifle used by the Army in WWII and the Korean War.)

“But we didn’t have any problems with the Germans, they just had a bad leader. We were told, if they don’t do what you say, they told us to shoot them, well, a lot of people don’t want to get shot. Germans are good people. They (Germans) would tell us, we fought the Russians, we didn’t fight you (Americans).”

Tucker’s known for his daily routine, which includes coffee with his buddies at the local donut shop every weekday. One day he was talking with the others and mentioned the commander of his regiment, Col. Samuel Williams.

“His nickname was Hanging Sam – because that’s what he done at the Nuremberg Trials. I had one of my buddies at the coffee shop find him. He got on that smart phone and sure enough, he found a photo and showed it to me, said ‘is that him?’ and it was.” Tucker never had any personal interaction with Williams, but it was another memory from his service time in Germany and makes for great coffee chatter.

Tucker enjoys sharing his life’s experiences, from working in the wheat harvest twice, to sawmills and a grape ranch in California.

“When you’re young, you do want to travel and experience life.”

After the Army, he attended trade school in Okmulgee, to learn body and fender work. He spent 40 years working on cars. His first car owned was a 1934 Ford, coupe, he said.

“I worked in a Chrysler and DeSoto place, there at Bollinger Motor Co. in Henrietta. My instructor asked me if I wanted a job. Four months left for school training, but if I went there for four months, they’d send my diploma.”

During trade school in 1954, he bought a 1950? Plymouth. “It was tore all to pieces and I fixed it. I didn’t know I had the bill there in the body shop, but you know what that bill was? $55. It would cost you $7,000 to fix it nowadays. It had a complete paint job and everything. They just charged me what I used for materials. I was paying to go to school anyway.”

Prior to this, he met and married the love of his life, Mary Lou. They were both living near Beaver Mountain, and it was after he returned from the Army.

“I fell in love with her. I had a date with her that night, the first night I met her. We fell in love with each other just like that. We married the day after the Fourth of July – 1953.”

Eventually, the couple made their way to this part of Oklahoma. Tucker’s sister and brother-in-law lived at Fort Sill. They visited them and he picked up a newspaper and “sure enough, there was an ad in there for a body/paint man. Jim was his name and that ol’ boy hired me.”

At that time, pay was about $35-40 a week, and Halliburton was paying .50 cents an hour.

“That guy said, I’ll give you $75 a week. I thought I died and gone to Heaven.” So, Mary Lou and Chester moved to Stephens County. He worked for “Jim” and the business changed hands a few times.

“After Battison bought it, I couldn’t get along with him. Worked for him a year, then quit.”

The Tuckers created a life rich with memories – four boys, two girls, and even fostered children when needed. About 40 years ago, one of those foster children came into their care permanently.

“We adopted him. He’s 41 now. His mother’s boyfriend liked to have killed him. They say he threw that baby against the wall and cracked his skull. My wife went to the hospital and got him when he was a year old. She wanted to adopt him. I was like, ‘what in the world will happen to him when we can’t take care of him. She said, don’t you worry, I’ll take care of him. But it’s the other way around.” They were in their 50s at the time.

Mary Lou died the day after Christmas 2021, and sadly, a daughter died three months later. Tucker also lost two sisters this year, one was 101, and then a younger one, and two sisters-in-law.

“I’m the last living one of my family. I was third from the youngest. Caring for their son is a full-time job and Tucker gets help from another son to manage the constant round the clock care.

He offers a few bits of advice. “Take care of yourself the best you can. I’ve been in the hospital twice with pneumonia, the last time wasn’t sure I’d make it. I just got to make sure I get that pneumonia shot.”

He misses his wife, but having daily coffee chats with his buddies and taking care of his son doesn’t leave much time to get in the doldrums.

At 93-years-old, he has plenty of opinions and doesn’t mind sharing them. About the COVID vaccination, he took the J&J shot, mostly because his wife and son both were on home care, but he doesn’t intend to get another one, not even a booster. Politics? “Seems like there’s more mudslinging these days. They need to turn those drillers loose.”