SEQUIM — Raymond Haegele found the simple, heartfelt note on his car.
Someone left it there while he was in Wal-Mart.
“Thank you Veteran!” it said.
“I appreciate the sacrifices you made in your life to support my freedom.
“I have a brother in Afghanistan and understand (somewhat) the true measure of what you did.”
It was an anonymous note, signed only by “a grateful Sequim-ite” who most likely saw the armed services baseball caps Haegele displays in the rear window of his car.
The note had a powerful effect on Haegele, a Korean War veteran who lives in Port Orchard.
“Tears came to my eyes,” said Haegele, 70.
“Nobody had ever said anything like that to me about my service.”
That was the July Fourth weekend.
Since then, he’s framed the note and displays it next to his service medals and his discharge papers.
He and his wife, Frances, are back in town this week — they visit Sequim Bay State Park twice a year — and Haegele wanted to make sure the letter writer knows the sentiment is very much appreciated.
“Nobody realizes the hardships you go through and the things that happened,” he said.
“You say, ‘I was in Korea,’ you hear, ‘Good for you!’ That’s about it.
“Those poor guys [who were] in Vietnam, they don’t even get that anymore.”
A life of service
Haegele grew up in the Philadelphia area and left high school early to join the Navy in 1952 because, he says, “I thought it was my duty.”
He shipped out to Korea after six weeks of training and served the next four years on the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier.
He had a sweltering job as boiler tender, managing the combustion of heavy oil for ship’s gargantuan engines. He also went with a shore party once as a machine gunner and saw combat.
“I shot at people. I killed people,” he said, something he says he’s dealt with over the years.
“It was a totally new experience — I was 17 years old.”