Antioch honors Vietnam hero

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Ernest Slavik, 64, of Antioch holds Silver Star and Purple Heart medals he received for action on July 11, 1967, in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. | Thomas Delany Jr. - Sun-Times Media

Updated: April 2, 2011 5:35PM

ANTIOCH — Ernest “Ernie” Slavik III, a Channel Lake resident for almost 40 years, enthralled Antioch village officials Monday by recounting his actions during the Vietnam War that earned him a Purple Heart and two Silver Stars.

Mayor Lawrence Hanson presented retired Army Sgt. Slavik with a resolution recognizing his heroism in the Mekong Delta with the 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, and the awarding of his second Silver Star, presented to him Dec. 12 by U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean.

Slavik recounted to the Village Board how on eight separate occasions on June 19-20, 1967, he dragged wounded soldiers back from enemy lines, actions that for decades he couldn’t even talk about with his family.

“When I tried to explain to my friends what we went through that year, they thought I made it up. People didn’t want to believe all the horrors of what happened over there, and most said it was a worthless effort,” he said. Although he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Silver Star in 1967 for heroic actions in Vietnam in July of 1967, there was so much he didn’t discuss until decades later.

His heroism rescuing fellow soldiers during the June 1967 battle was recognized only this year by the second Silver Star, an award for valor and gallantry in action pursued by former Army comrades on his behalf.

His memories of that year are so powerful that he gets tears in his eyes when he hears about soldiers doing multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq. “One year was enough for me and when I came home I really didn’t want to talk about it because it was so horrible. A lot of heroism got overlooked but is now being recognized 43 years later.”

After the war Slavik married wife Pat in 1975, and they have three children, Melissa, Kelly and Ernest IV, and seven grandchildren. He says he continues to enjoy fishing, hunting and trapping and being outdoors. He held the framed proclamation and said he would “cherish it forever. I might have to take down a deer head to hang this up, but that’s OK. I will be so proud to display this.”