The Grand Marshal for Elmhurst’s 106th Memorial Day Parade is Oak Brook resident Rus Strahan, a Vietnam War combat veteran while serving in the United States Navy as a Petty Officer 2nd Class.
Strahan volunteered to service in Vietnam in January of 1968. After completing various training programs—survival techniques, weapon firing and speaking Vietnamese—he was assigned as an adviser to the Republic of Vietnam Navy in May of 1968.
“You can advise all you want,” stated Strahan, “but nobody has to listen.”
His duties included patrolling the Saigon, Mekong and Bassac rivers in small gun boats, PBRs (Patrol Boat, Riverine) and LCILs (Landing Craft Infantry—Large) operating out of the Saigon Naval Shipyard.
“You get shot at a lot,” stated Strahan. “You knew that green tracers were Chinese and red tracers were American.”
Like too many who served in Vietnam, Strahan has suffered the debilitating long-term effects of exposure to Agent Orange, ranging from neuropathy to prostate cancer.
“I washed my clothes in the river which had Agent Orange in it,” stated Strahan. “At the time, no one knew the effects of it.”
Strahan trained at the former Great Lakes (Ill.) Naval Station from August of 1961 to January of 1962 after graduating high school, training in the Electronics Class A School. He shipped out to San Diego, California, and in September of 1962 was assigned to serve on the U.S.S. Bellatrix, a refrigerator and stores ship, where he was promoted to Electronics Tech to repair radar equipment and the like.
“You learn how to lead and how to do,” stated Strahan. “You learn that you can do anything. There’s nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it.”
His vessel was dispatched for the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which ended as they reached the Panama Canal, and departed Hong Kong upon President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963. Strahan helped pre-commission the U.S.S.
Chicago in 1964 and served when the U.S.S. Chicago joined the Pacific Fleet in 1965. Assigned to the Naval Recon, Tech Support Center, he processed aerial film taken over Cuba and from space missions.
Strahan’s father served with General George S. Patton in World War II as a Staff Sergeant in the Army Air Corps, while his son served 26 years as an Air Force Captain with tours in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
A lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Strahan has been active in Elmhurst American Legion THB Post 187 for 16 years, and is completing a term as Junior Vice Commander.
Strahan is a longtime volunteer with the Oak Brook Police Department, earning the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police’s 2016 Outstanding Citizen Award. He also was the Head Miller at Graue Mill for 15 years and still serves on the Board of Directors.
After his honorable discharge from the Navy, Strahan worked nearly a decade at a jukebox company owned by his uncle and father. He moved to Illinois in 1978 to start work for NSM America, a German jukebox company, working his way up from Service Manager to President of the U.S. operations over a 13-year span. He retired in 2005 after stints as Bally Gaming’s North American Sales Director for slot machines and Mikohn Gaming in casino signage.
“My actual (first) name is Stanley,” stated Strahan. “I was given my nickname of Rusty by an uncle because of my red hair. It was later shortened to Rus.”
Strahan graduated from Greenfield (Mass.) High School in 1961 and completed two and one half years of Business Management courses in community college. He was born in Monterey Park, California, and then moved out east.
A resident of Oak Brook, Strahan has been married to Carol, his second wife, for 41 years. His first marriage produced two children who had three children apiece. He now has 14 great grandchildren.