Jasper — Hamilton County Veterans Service Officer Marcel “Bo” Beauchemin has had an impressive military career. He is a Vietnam veteran and joined the United States Army when he was a young man of 17. It was January of 1963 when he enlisted and after 23 years of service to his country he retired as a 1st Sergeant in February 1986, however, he didn’t retire from a working life.

Beauchemin is originally from North Charleston, S.C. where he was born and raised.

“I tried to get into the Navy when I was 15,” he said.

After packing a small AWOL bag that consisted of a pair of shoes and some underwear, Beauchemin said he went to the bus station to be indoctrinated into the Navy, but at the last minute it was discovered he wasn’t old enough to join the service and he was turned away.

“You had to be 17 with your parents’ consent,” he explained. “So, I said okay...I thought I was in. Anyway, when I turned 17 I joined the Army.”

He went to boot camp in Fort Gordon, Ga. and had training in communications before being shipped to Germany for three years. Then it was back to the States where he was stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky. for one year with the 101st Airborne Division.

In 1967 he found himself in Vietnam on a military advisory team where he spent a year. That was his first trip there. A while later he was sent back to Vietnam doing much the same thing only in a different location.

In late 1969 he came back again to the states and was stationed at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. for about a year. Then he went back yet another time to Vietnam with the 5th Mechanized Infantry Division.

When he returned to the States he wound up back in Fort Gordon and was later assigned to recruiting duty in 1972 in Fort Wayne, Indiana where he spent about three and half years.

“That was fun,” he said.

His military career continued and he moved on to Fort Leonard Wood Engineer Training Center in Missouri.

“I was an instructor there,” he said. “I used to teach bridge building and bridge design.”

Then he went back to Germany for a couple of years with the 9th Engineers before coming back to the 101st Airborne Division and then on to the 20th Engineer Battalion.

“I was going to retire there in Fort Campbell because it’s beautiful there, but then I got a call from the Department of the Army offering me a job as an advisor to the Florida National Guard and Reserve Units,” he said.

Retiring in Florida was something he had already considered, so he took the job and was stationed at Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa where he stayed for a little over three years.

“I enjoyed that,” he said. “It was challenging, but it was a good assignment.”

His most rewarding and fulfilling time in the military, he said, was when he was in Fort Campbell, Ky. and working with the engineers.

“I think that we were really highly trained,” he said. “I kept my troops in tip top physical shape. I really enjoyed that. It was a lot of work, but looking back on it, that was probably one of my better highlights. Your day started about 4:30 (a.m.) and ended about 6:30 (p.m.).”

Beauchemin said he is the kind of guy who likes to makes things happen and that’s what he did.

When he retired from the military in 1986 he was living in Satellite Beach. A buddy of his who lived in Orlando asked him to come help him build a 19 story garage over the top of a bank.

“It was about an hour and a half drive one way,” he said. “The drive over wasn’t bad at all, but that drive back and that sun...it was a killer.”

Meanwhile, he had put in an application with the city of Cocoa for the position of assistant superintendent of public works. He wound up taking the job and stayed for a couple of years. Then in 1989 he hired on with Brevard County as Construction Project Coordinator/Manager until April, 1996.

During that time he used to travel back and forth at least three times a month to his folks’ home in South Carolina, an 800 mile roundtrip. He’d arrive late on Friday and stay the weekend.

“My mom would love to go out to the Waffle House and eat,” he said. “She just got a kick out of that. Then I’d work around the house on Saturday and Sunday and then drive back.”

One day his mother happened to see a job opening in Berkley County, S.C. for a road and bridges director.

“She sent it to me,” he said.

Since Beauchemin enjoyed life in South Carolina, he interviewed for the job and got it. He stayed until 2005 and had over 100 employees working for him in three different departments. By then he was old enough to retire and so he did.

“I was home for about three or four months going crazy,” said Beauchemin. “I said this isn’t for me. It was a mistake to retire.”

After searching the Internet he found an opening for a road and bridges director in Pickens, S.C. He got that job and worked there for about two years until his wife Beverly came down with health problems in 2008. The two have been married for fifteen years and between them they have five children and a parcel of grandkids.

Beauchemin said his daughter was the regional director for Sage Industries in Lake City, one of the nation’s leading truck driving institutes, and his wife had gone to visit her. The two of them began browsing property brochures and then drove around to look at some of them. That’s when his wife found her dream home in Jennings.

“She saw it and she loved it,” Beauchemin said.

When he went to look at the property, however, he wasn’t all that thrilled with it.

“All I could see was dollar signs,” he said. “I had to totally rebuild the place. She said it reminded her of her mom’s cabin, so when she said that, no matter what I said or what I thought, we were going to have that place.”

In May of 2009, after building a four car garage and remodeling the house, Beauchemin took a part time, three day a week job as Veterans Service Officer for Hamilton County. After two years he convinced the county commissioners to let him work four days a week in order to handle all that needed to be done. His last day was October 30 when he “officially” retired, although he intends to be the “point man” for the new Veterans Memorial Park that is currently under construction.

“They’ll probably appoint me as the chairman because I want to get it done,” he said.

The Beauchemin’s are also making plans to do some extensive traveling across the country and really take the time to truly enjoy their retirement.