Staff Sergeant John Hawn turned age 18 in his first of three tours of duty to Vietnam

U-S Army Retired Staff Sergeant John Hawn flanked by his step son Andrew Harris and wife Diane.

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- In March 1963, John Hawn was chauffeured to Knoxville in the back of a Campbell County Sheriff’s cruiser; taken straight from jail to the U-S Army enlistment office. “I dropped out of La Follette High School as a sophomore, was causing trouble and wound up in jail. It was Sheriff John Dossett who influenced me to join the military,” said retired Staff Sergeant John Hawn, now a member of the Campbell County Honor Guard.

See the full photo gallery from Monday’s Veterans Day ceremony from WLAF’s Charlie Hutson HERE.

“I was such that Dossett told me I wouldn’t live to be 18, and then the Army came along. I turned 18 during my first of three tours of duty in Vietnam, even sent the sheriff a birthday card from the war letting him know I’d made it,” said Hawn.

Hawn shares at Monday’s Veterans Day ceremony that he was born at Clairfield, and his family moved to La Follette in 1951. He served in the Army from March 1963 to Sept. 17, 1976, 13 1/2 years.

Andrew Harris reflects on his just-like-a-father step dad John Hawn.

“He’s my step father, but I look at him like my father. We couldn’t do what we do without our veterans. I thank them for our freedom,” said Andrew Harris, John Hawn’s step son. Harris made the two and a half hour trip from Soddy Daisy for Monday’s Veterans Day Ceremony. This was his third time attending the ceremony.

During the war, the staff sergeant served as a demolition man. “I disarmed boobie traps, bombs and such that did not go off. I was the dummy,” said Hawn as he laughed.

John Hawn is second from the right, a member of the Campbell County Honor Guard.

“This day means a lot, the showing of a lot of respect. Veterans Day also brings back memories I don’t like to think about,” said an emotional Hawn.

Howe visited the late sheriff a few times over the years. He was quite the source of pride for Sheriff Dossett, the man he became. “I guess you could say some good things came from that car ride to Knoxville; and some bad things,” said U-S Army retired Staff Sergeant John Hawn.. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/12/2024-6AM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)

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