Desire to serve drives Wendell Dominy in and out of the Army

Almost a decade ago, Wendell Dominy went back to the football field at Plano High School as an honorary captain. On Sept. 11, 2015, as the Reapers got ready to play the Manteno Panthers, he was being recognized for his role as tackle during the team’s 1960 state championship run, but also for his dedication to Plano as a whole.

Dominy served in Vietnam with the U.S. Army’s 87th Engineering Battalion. He spent his service building bases all around the South China Sea, including facilities at Cam Rahn Bay beginning in 1965.

“When we got there it was a village,” he said. “We built the whole thing up.”

It was also 118 degrees when they landed.

He described seeing the cannons in the hills left behind by the French when they pulled out of the area in the 1950s.

“There were cannons coming out of the mountains,” he said. “They’d roll these cannons out of the tunnels and shoot them out into the South China Sea. It was interesting. ... I grew up fast.”

He’d been drafted after leaving Northern Illinois University after a couple years in order to make money. Within a few months, however, he got notice he’d be drafted into the Army and he was on his way to Fort Knox, Kentucky.

After his service, Dominy returned to Plano. He was employed by Clark Equipment, John Deere and Caterpillar. But he continued to serve the community in other ways, including serving on the Plano school board for 12 years, with four as president of the board.

“I wanted to do something for the community,” he said of why he made the commitment to the board. “I had two kids, a daughter and a son growing up.”

Dominy is now heavily involved in the Plano American Legion Leon Burson Post 395. He serves on the color guard and honor guard. When the post’s honor guard serves at funerals in the area – about one a week on average throughout the year, Dominy often acts as the presenters, giving the family the American flag that had been draped on the veteran’s coffin.

When he left Cam Ranh Bay in January 1966, Dominy’s lieutenant colonel remarked on his integrity, efficiency and professional ability in a letter of appreciation.

“Your loyalty, tact, and understanding have earned you the respect and admiration of the officers and enlisted men of this battalion,” the letter concluded.