Reluctant hero: Redmond veteran Dennis Guthrie served at home, overseas

Vietnam veteran earned a Silver Star, served as National Surgeon General and watched too many John Wayne movies Dennis G. Guthrie sat in the back of “Smoky Hall” drinking a beer. Redmond’s volunteer firefighter department was planning a fireman’s ball as a fundraiser when someone proposed hosting it at the VFW. Drinking his beer at the back of the room, Guthrie kept quiet. “I don’t even know what that stands for.” Smoky Hall was — at least what Guthrie was told — an old laundry room back when the airport was run by the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. After the Army turned over the airport to the city following the war, it was repurposed as a rendezvous for volunteer firefighters. The building’s no longer there. In 1983 or 1984, the volunteer firemen were looking for an in at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. Guthrie had no interest. “Soon as you open your mouth with a suggestion, you get put on a f***ing committee,” Guthrie said. Keeping to himself.

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