Fred Larson US Army | 1967 - 1970 Fred was born in the town of Laurens, Iowa. He spent his younger years enjoying fishing, hunting, trapping and being outdoors. He joined the Cub Scouts and later, the Boy Scouts. After graduating high school he worked construction for a year until he could join the Army. He completed his basic training at Fort Campbell Kentucky and went on to Fort Leonard Wood where he attended carpenter school. He was transferred to Vietnam for the next year where he drove for and guarded his sub-sector commander. While there he earned the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze service stars, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. On returning to the United States he was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado. Upon release from the Army he went back into construction where he went from being a carpenter to owning his own construction company. The first company went out of business due to a divorce. He then moved across the state and started a second construction business that was more specialized. The business was doing well when he became ill and was hospitalized in a VA hospital in Des Moines Iowa for eleven months. When he was released from the hospital he moved to Alaska. There he turned to retail for a living; selling first archery equipment and then fire arms. After twelve years of that he opened his own archery shop. He ran that for two years gaining a wife and an appreciation for the joy of teaching archery to young and old. When the store closed he began working for a security company driving an armored truck. For fifteen years he drove in every type of weather never having an accident or incident. When the diabetes he got from agent orange got worse, he was forced to go on insulin, and because of that, he was forced to retire. Shortly after retiring he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He was in expert hands at the VA hospital in Anchorage and since the cancer was discovered early he was treated surgically. The doctor removed half of his colon and resected it successfully. It was a lengthy recovery, but all traces of the cancer seem to be gone but he will have to be monitored yearly from now on. Since recovering he has spent his time fly fishing. It has been his go-to sport ever since being introduced to popper fishing with his grandfather’s bamboo rod for small mouth bass when he was a child. A minor heart attack has forced him to slow down a bit and he started tying flies for a hobby. He really enjoys catching trout and grayling on a fly he tied. He has even caught silver salmon on his fly rod with a modified lefty’s deceiver he tied while fishing with friends on their boat in Prince William Sound. While taking a PTSD class he learned about Healing Waters and he discovered a wonderful organization that has helped him mentally and spiritually. Through Project Healing Waters, he has met and made friends with other veterans healing from their scars through fly fishing. The instructors have improved and refined his fly tying techniques and introduced him to the building of fly rods. The joy of catching a fish on your own rod and your own fly is unbelievable.
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