Loveland Vietnam veteran named FOX31 Hero of the Month
LOVELAND, Colo. (KDVR) — He signed up to serve his country as a teenager. And he never stopped serving.
Hank Castillon of Loveland is a Vietnam veteran, former brigadier general in the Wyoming National Guard and former mayor. And he has one more honor to add to his accomplishments: He’s been named the FOX31 Serving Those Who Serve Hero of the Month for March 2024.
“I did everything that I was supposed to do,” Castillon said when asked about his service in Vietnam.
He was only 17 when he joined the military — too young to sign up for the Army. So his mother signed for him, and off he went.
“My dad was really against it,” he told FOX31.
On Hill 947 in Vietnam’s Plei Trap Valley, he came face to face with enemy soldiers, and someone made it out alive from a three-day battle that killed 575 American soldiers, including at least 40 in his own unit.
“And I was wounded in the back with some shrapnel,” Castillon said.
A shadow box on his wall — filled with awards and decorations including the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart — tell the story of his heroism. But his service to his country did not end with his year-long deployment to Vietnam.
When he came back, he rose through the ranks of the Wyoming Army National Guard, eventually reaching the rank of brigadier general in March 1993. He was later elected mayor of the town of Green River, Wyoming, in 2006.
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His public service rubbed off on his family. His daughter Andrea is a U.S. Army pilot.
“I think she took after me because I couldn’t go to flight school,” Castillon joked.
For his decades of service to his country and community, he is being honored by Ford and the Leo Hill Charitable Trust as the Serving Those Who Serve Hero of the Month.
To nominate a veteran or active-duty service member for our Hero of the Month honors, visit the nomination page.
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