WASHINGTON — Bob Turano and Gary Wetzel's story of friendship starts at the beginning of their military service.
"We actually met in boot camp," Turano said, "he was in one boot camp company, and I was in another, we'd already been assigned our ships. I've been talking to a guy, and he says, I have a guy out of my company that got assigned to the same ship, and he introduced me."
The guy he'd get introduced to would be Gary Wetzel and would be the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
In Turano's words, the story gets worse.
"Yeah, there's more to the story," Wetzel said.
It started with a picture of a woman in a bikini, that woman was Wetzel's sister. Turano said she had sent the photo and Wetzel had it on his desk
"All the guys are saying they're going to go home and meet her, right? This is right after Vietnam, after we left Vietnam," Turano said. Well, location would be on his side: Turano is from Pueblo and Wetzel is from Colorado Springs.
Turano ended up marrying her. They later got divorced.
"But he and I stayed put," Turano said. "We didn’t hold it against each other," Wetzel said. Turano has since remarried.
Their friendship would continue for decades, and now, in 2024 they find themselves on the Honor Flight of Southern Colorado together.
Turano and Wetzel say their military service is the core of the friendship, creating a special bond between the two of them.
"I mean, without the service, we would have never met. We would have never become friends. The things we did on the ship, we did everything we went to. We won't go into the bloody details. That's. That's not for young ears," Turano said.
"We have this, the same kind of discipline and thoughts because we have a lot of memory, a lot of history," Wetzel said.
ADDITIONAL HONOR FLIGHT COVERAGE
The welcome home they never got: veterans return from Honor Flight
"Amazing" veterans receive letters, photos during final "mail call"
Emotional: local veterans honor, memorialize fellow service members
____
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
