Special forces veteran honored for his service

James Duranceau attended an event last month hosted by the Special Forces Association where he was honored for his 16 years as a Green Beret in the United States Army.

Duranceau joined the army in 1962, starting his first tour of Vietnam on Christmas Day of 1965. He became a part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade as a Ranger and an Airborne Ranger in the 2nd Battalion of the 75th Regiment, starting his second tour of Vietnam with the Korean Rock Ranger Battalion in 1968 when he became a Green Beret.

Duranceau, who grew up in the Chelan area, moved to the Grand Coulee Dam area after 9/11 to work security at the dam and "liked the area so well" that he decided to make it home. He has been here ever since, currently living in Lakeview Terrace.

A saying he likes from his time in the army is that "The main difference between a war story and a fairy tail is a fairy tale starts off with 'Once upon a time,' but a war story starts off with 'This is no shit.'"

In 1972, Duranceau did a tour of Europe, hunting groups "kind of like Isis," including the Red Brigade, he said.

He didn't like that time so much, but would have enjoyed the area as a citizen.

But Duranceau loved the Orient he said, having spent time in northern Thailand, Burma and Laos, and particularly in Korea, where he served five tours and married a Korean woman in 1976.

He learned to speak Korean in the 1960s as part of the requirement of becoming a part of the Special Forces.

In 1983 he retired from the 75th as a master sergeant.

In Las Vegas, Duranceau said, about 100 Green Berets were honored at the 1st Special Forces 2019 Reunion, where about 700 people attended.

At the event, he said, he was happy to talk with those who shared similar experiences in the military, many of whom also served in the Vietnam era, and many who served during the first Gulf War.

"Just the camaraderie was so great, talking to older people," he said. "It helped me relax up stuff I had held in. You don't think about stuff you were holding in from your folks and your wife until when you talk to these people and they experienced the same things you did. They were running A-Teams like I did."

Duranceau explained that in the Special Forces you have an A team and a B team. "A team is usually a 12-man team," he said. "You're dropped in somewhere to do things that are secret or whatever. You're just there to take people, and try to get information."

"They treated me like gold," he said of the reunion. Proud of the large banner he received, he plans to hang it outside of his house.

He is especially proud of the commemorative coin he received, which says, "Green Beret Foundation" on one side, and "Caring for America's Quiet Professionals" on the other.