They call him “the Colonel” and he looks and sounds the part. He’s got a handlebar moustache, a commanding presence and a powerful voice, attributes that make 78-year-old retired Lt. Col. Chuck Wallens hard to ignore.
You can catch a glimpse of him at Congregation Beth Israel every morning, where he attends daily shaharit services, and every Wednesday night, where he uses his sonorous voice to “call” bingo games.
President of the synagogue from 1978 to 1981, Wallens remains an active member, participating in ad hoc committees and the men’s club.
Wallens has indeed led a life of service, not only within the Jewish community but also as a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Army, a career that took him around the world, from locations within the U.S. to Korea, Germany, Panama and Vietnam.
In the military and since, he’s always been involved. “It’s my hobby, organizational service,” he said in a recent interview in his Bayside home.
Wherever he and his wife Betty went in their many transient years in the military, they always got involved with Jewish life, both on and off base. They ran religious services for children on a base in Germany. Betty was president of the Jewish Ladies of the Chapel and helped to organize the dedication of an all-faith chapel there.
“We were very conscious of and involved in Jewish affairs,” Wallens said.
He did not, however, come into much contact with anti-Semitism, he said. “If you look for it, you can find it…. I think the guys who ran into problems were people who tried to hide [their Jewishness].”
That openness and frankness typify Wallens, who has clear ideas about the world and politics, including women and racial integration in the military.
“I’ve always supported [women in the military] providing they are technically qualified,” he said. For the same reasons, he supported racial integration, which began during his career.
Wallens said he has “no compunction” about the U.S. attacking Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein. “My worry,” he said, “is what’s going to happen after and who’s going to lead the country.” He refers to Korea as an example of what we don’t want — the war there ended 50 years ago but 35,000 American troops remain.
And the military man in him identifies with the conundrum of the Israel Defense Forces. “The Israeli military is extremely well-disciplined. Soldiers have gone into villages, gotten shot at and not opened fire. I think they’re to be commended.”
He recalls serving in Vietnam, when “the Vietcong knew that American soldiers were butter around children,” providing them with candy when they reached out their hands. Sometimes a child would roll a grenade under the American jeep, Wallens said, a situation he likens to the incessant threat of suicide bombing in Israel. “When I drove through the villages, I had made up my mind. My gun was ready to fire,” he said.
‘A fine life’
Wallens remembers listening to a Green Bay Packers game on the radio in his Appleton home when the broadcast was interrupted: Pearl Harbor had been bombed. Wallens was too young to enter the military, only a sophomore in high school, but he was moved by the way the nation rallied.
After being drafted in 1944, he was trained as a sapper, an explosives expert. Rather than being sent to Europe, he was picked to stay in the U.S. and train other soldiers. After World War II ended, Wallens joined the “regular army,” with a special one-year enlistment incentive that offered a promotion and a 30-day leave.
As part of his service, Wallens attended a U.S. military preparatory academy in Stewart’s Field, N.Y., and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Later, he was sent to Harvard Business School, where he earned a master’s of business administration.
“I had a fine life in the military. My wife liked it and the girls [daughters Ellen and Jody] liked being army brats,” he said.
Following his retirement from the military in 1970, Wallens worked in the personnel business and owned his own agency, which he sold five years ago.
But, as a veteran, he has remained engaged in both civic and religious organizations. He was president of the West Point Society of Wisconsin and is still an involved member. He is a national officer and local secretary of National Sojourners, Inc., the fraternal organization for military Masons, and a member of the Jewish War Veterans and the American Legion.
He also serves as representative of the Masonic Service Association at the Zablocki VA Medical Center, where he visits veterans and is responsible for a corps of volunteers.
As the interview ended, Wallens walked outside his house, removed the American flag that he hangs daily and rolled it up.
“Don’t forget to vote!” he called out, clearly concerned that other Americans, like him, get involved.
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