Thune bakes bread in Vietnam

Jim Thune of Alpena, was also invited to go on the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.

Thune said he almost declined, but was very thankful he hadn’t. “The Changing of the Guards at Arlington National Cemetery was fantastic. The Vietnam Wall was remarkable.”

Thune served in the Army from 1966 to 1969. “Our time in Vietnam was very scary — for all of us.” he said.

He was an E-4 Army Specialist. The funniest story he has to share deals with his mom’s fresh bread recipe.

“By the time we got bread, it was all crumbled and wasn’t fresh,” he said. “I worked in the mess hall and decided I was going to get my mom’s bread recipe and make us some fresh bread.”

He wrote to his mom for the recipe and she sent it. “We had bags of flour sitting in the kitchen area that no one was using. So we took the screen off the door and used that to sift the bugs out of the flour. We made fresh bread and everyone loved it.”