GERARD DEVOE • VIETNAM WAR
Gerard “Gerry” Devoe, 77
Gloucester, MA
Born 9/21/1948
Born/Raised: Salem, MA
Service: US Army
Rank: Spec. 5/Sergeant
Dates of Service: 1969-1970
There’s a bit of a spark in Gerry Devoe’s smile, perhaps a remnant of his career as an electrician. Born and raised in Salem, MA, to a pipefitter, Lucien, and a homemaker, Phyllis, he grew up with two brothers and two sisters. He attended St. Joseph Grammar School before heading to Salem Vocational and his initial studies in the electrical department. He carried on that schooling at the Franklin Institute and graduated as a fully qualified electrician.
He joined the Army in 1969. “I felt I had to do something for my country. The recruiter said that at three years (term of enlistment) there was a 95% chance of going to Vietnam. What were my other options? He said that if it were two years there was a 99% chance of going. The difference between 95% and 99% wasn’t worth the extra year.”
Gerry did his basic training at Fort Gordon in Georgia and his advanced infantry at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. He was assigned to the 43rd Signal Battalion in An Khe, Vietnam in the central highlands. As an electrician, he was supposed to be a “power-man” keeping the generators on the base and in the motor pool running. Instead, his first duty was to sit up in the guard towers with M60 machine guns. A month later he was finally doing what he was trained to do – keeping the lights on and keeping the vehicles moving.
Towards the end of September 1970 Gerry came home to Salem. One night at the Starlight, a nightclub on Route One, he met a girl from Gloucester, Linda Orlando. There must have been a spark there as well because they married in November 1971 and recently celebrated their 53rd year of marriage. They have four children, Mark, Vinnie, Katie and Phyllis and 10 grandchildren.
Gerry made a career of being an electrician working for 33 years for Rudolph Electric and another 13 for Interstate Electric. He retired in 2018 and now spends his time divided among his grandkids, playing golf and going to the Cape Ann Veterans Center.