Deep military ties bind Mission family

ST. IGNATIUS — Decades and decades of military service by his family makes Veteran’s Day an important time of remembrance for Mission resident J.C. Courville.

Having his youngest son currently serving a second tour of duty in Iraq makes every day special — although nerve-wracking — for Courville, who knows 24-year-old Jesse James Courville has already been wounded in the line of duty.

“On his first tour, he called me up from Iraq and I said ‘What?’ and he said, ‘I got blowed up today Dad, and I wanted to tell you before anybody else did.’ He got a big chunk of shrapnel in his leg during a patrol,” the elder Courville said of his son’s experience.

Jesse James is the latest in a long line of Courville’s to serve in the military. J.C.’s father served in World War I, and a Courville has served in every war since, including an uncle that stormed the beach at Normandy and cousins in Korea and Vietnam.

J.C. served in the Air Force and Montana National Guard from 1980 to 2000, traveling to Panama, Newfoundland and Puerto Rico during his service time.

Military service has been in Courville blood for years, J.C. said, and has culminated with Jesse James, the youngest of five brothers, who has been a Marine for four years and was awarded a Purple Heart for his injury during his first tour.

 “He said he’s had enough,” J.C. said of his son, who will finish his tour in January. “He said he’s had enough; been there, done that he said.”

Since he retired in 2000, J.C. has worked at the Kicking Horse Job Corps Center as a carpentry instructor. His knack for creating things with his hands has given him a favorite hobby: creating models of military helicopters and battleships for friends, something he has done for years. The skill he displayed in making the models gave Karen Courville, the wife of J.C.’s cousin, Homer, and a teller at Ronan Community Bank, the idea to create a display in honor of Veteran’s Day in the bank lobby.

J.C. loved the idea, and donated a ship, gunner and helicopter model. The display also features an American flag, an Army helmet and a picture with some of the members of the Mission Valley Honor Guard, a group J.C. has been part of for most of his military career and beyond.

“I was in the Air Force and I came back and joined the Montana National Guard and they said, ‘You have a uniform don’t you?’ and I said yes, and they said why don’t you fall out with us for this funeral? And I said I don’t know how to do that but they said they’d show me how to do it and I’ve been doing it every since, since about ‘81,” J.C. said. “They would fire the rifles at funerals for veterans, and the 21 gun salute, fold the flag, blow taps, all that stuff.”

His family connections to the military, in addition to his volunteer work with the Honor Guard, has given J.C. a deep connection to how important veterans are to all American citizens. He was out in St. Ignatius yesterday, honoring the service men and women of our country on Veteran’s Day.

“One of the biggest points of veterans is they’re not looking for accolades or anything, they just want to know that they are remembered, and the only way we can do that with the ones that are gone is to, well every day would be best, but if there’s one or two days set aside, like Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day, those are important days for every one to at least stop and realize that,” J.C. said. “Even if through the rest of the month or year you don’t even think about it, those two are very important. The families are serving right along with the person that is deployed, and having been on both ends of it, I was there every day when Jesse was gone, and no one ever wants to lose a son or a daughter.”