This year for Memorial Day, we at Tharp wanted to take the time to honor one of our team members for not only serving our team, but our Country.

Drafted at the age of 19, Harry Welch served for 26 years in the US Army and National Guard In those 26 years he was a Foot Soldier and Military Police. He also worked with Artillery and Communications. 

During his service, he completed 2 tours in the Vietnam War, trained & served at Fort Riley, Kansas, Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Carson, Colorado. While stationed at Fort Riley, he remembers being sent to a camp in Wisconsin due to rumored riots against the Vietnam War. Turns out there weren’t any riots and they ended up just sitting at base. While he was in the Army National Guard, he helped rescue and shelter survivors from the Big Thompson Flood in 1976 and a blizzard in 1981. 

Harry retired as a Master Sargent in 1996 and has been recognized with 16 different awards, including: a Bronze Star Metal (BSM), an Army Air Metal (AM), an Army Commendation Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, an Army Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with 3 bronze Service Stars, and a Combat Infantry Badge (CIB). You can see a full list of Harry’s awards below. 

In 2020, Harry was recognized as the Colorado Nuggets “Home Town Hero” during a game.

Now Harry is our Groundskeeper and a member of our Maintenance Team. He has been working at our Loveland building for the last 8 years. We asked him what is favorite part of his job is and he said “The people are real nice!”

Please join everyone at Tharp in saying, Thank You Harry for your service to our country and freedom, and thank you for everything you do here at Tharp.

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to those who have served, and continue to serve, in our Military.

Harry Welch’s Service Awards