FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas --- The Tet Offensive in Vietnam was not the first intense battle for combat medic Sgt. 1st Class Wayne Slagel. He had seen action at "Heartbreak Ridge" in Korea and served in the Pacific Theatre during World War II - earning a Combat Medical Badge in each of those campaigns.
Slagel didn't have to be in Vietnam. He had retired from the Army in 1963, but he volunteered to go active duty in 1967 because he said "They needed him, he knew he could benefit people there, he felt the call," said Slagel's daughter, Princess Slagel-Bucshon, of St. Louis.
During Tet, Sgt. 1st Class Slagel was injured by mortar fire while treating Soldiers. For his service in Southeast Asia, he received his third Combat Medical Badge as well as a Purple Heart Medal. He is only the second known recipient to earn three Combat Medical Badges.
Building 1377, the Sgt. 1st Class Wayne E. Slagel Dining Facility, near Womack and McGee roads on Fort Sam Houston, is named in his honor.
Princess and her Family along with her brother, David Slagel, of San Antonio, had lunch at their father's namesake Nov. 25. It was nine years to the month that the facility had been renamed for him. Princess and David, two of Sgt. 1st Class Slagel's four children, were at the dedication in 1999.
"My father would just love this," said Princess, referring to the dining facility. She was at the facility with her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Doug Bucshon, an active-duty National Guard Soldier, and their sons Caleb, 11, and Ethan, 7, to pass on the Family's military heritage. Sgt. 1st Class Slagel died in 1999.
David said returning to the facility was somewhat surreal for him.
"It's wonderful to know that folks following in my father's footsteps get to know a little about what he did," David said.
David described his father as calm and level-headed even in stressful situations.
"Nothing fazed him. I guess because of his experiences," David said. "If there was an emergency, he was always the calm guy getting things done."
Princess said her father never used profanity. David said that was true although it's hard to believe about someone who is retired military.
"When he would mean 'hell' he would spell it - 'h-e-you-know-what' he would say," Princess said.
Sgt. 1st Class Slagel also had a magnetic personality and easily made friends, Princess said.
"He had this warmth about him that instantly made people feel at ease," she said.
Caleb, a sixth grader, said he and his mother often talk about his grandfather, Sgt. 1st Class Slagel, who was born March 11, 1922.
"She likes to bring out scrapbooks and look at pictures," Caleb said.
Princess and David, a retired Air Force technical sergeant, remembered the rededication ceremony nine years ago. David recalled that the guest speaker described his father as, "one of a kind."
Princess said there have been a few changes to the facility since 1999.
"The entrances have changed and I like what they have done with the information plaque about my father. The picture is larger," she said.
In the early 1990s, retired Sgt. 1st Class Slagel visited Fort Sam Houston to be honored by the Army Medical Department Museum.
On that visit, Princess said her father was truly in heaven talking with the combat medics. David remembers his father as being so impressed with the work of the new generation of combat medics and how they had learned lessons from the medics of his era.
"These people (combat medics) save lives. There can't be a higher calling than that," David said.
The Sgt. 1st Class Wayne Slagel Dining Facility, built in 1973, exclusively serves the 3,000 combat medic trainees of the 232nd Medical Battalion. There will be some major improvements made in the facility during the Christmas exodus, said Command Sgt. Maj. Antonio Abin, of the 232nd Medical Battalion.
The floor will be retiled, the furniture will be replaced and the flow of customers will be streamlined for more efficient dining, Abin said. Also, staff from the Army Medical Department Museum will put up permanent framed photographs of combat medics in action from different eras as well as static displays.
"When you come into the dining facility it will be a walk in time with combat medics," Abin said.
Abin and Lt. Col. John Lamoureux, commander of the 232nd Med. Bn., hosted the visitors for lunch, which consisted of traditional Mexican fare.
Lamoureux introduced the Families to the Soldiers in the packed dining facility. The Soldiers acknowledged them with cheers and applause. One Soldier thanked the Slagels for their father's service to the nation.
Lamoureux said the visit was an important history lesson for Soldiers.
"It's good to remind Soldiers what they're training to become and all the people that have done it before them," Lamoureux said. "I think Sergeant Slagel is the epitome of what a combat medic is."
(Jeff Crawley works in the Fort Sam Houston Public Affairs Office)
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