United State Army veteran Earlin Hoyt of New Portland. (Laura Dunham photo) NEW PORTLAND — Just ask a retired veteran in New Portland what Veteran's Day means to 95 percent of the people in the United States and he will tell you "it's just a day off from work." Most all ceremonies, said Hoyt, are now held in cemeteries but many of the veterans aren't even dead.

Earlin Hoyt, who has lived in New Portland since 1991, joined the United States Army in 1966 and retired in 1986. "I loved the service," said Hoyt, who was an indirect fire crewman for mortars in the 81st infantry.

"Five times I volunteered to go to Vietnam. I never got a purple heart," said Hoyt, but he did show off the barbwire scars all along his arms and the shrapnel wounds.

"We put razor wire all around our base camp. One time we were on guard duty and kept hearing noises. Finally one of us got our flashlight out and looking right at us was a cobra snake. We all started shooting at once; everyone on the base thought we were being attacked.

"Sometimes we would put up a sheet right there in the jungle and show a movie. One time I was alone and put up mosquito netting and a mattress on the floor of an old bunker to get some rest. I turned on my flashlight and there were hundreds of red eyes looking at me. I saw they were rats and that freaked me out; I moved the next day."

Hoyt did tours of duty in Korea, Germany, Hawaii, Texas and Kansas.

He is very much against the war in Iraq, "The only ones who have benefitted from the war are the big businessmen," said Hoyt. "A lot of young men and women have lost their lives. (But) if it had been back in Vietnam, more would have been killed but with such advanced medical services now, there are so many more wounded whose lives are being saved."

It wasn't until after the 1980s that people actually recognized the Vietnam veterans, said Hoyt.

Hoyt's memory of coming home from the Vietnam War after five tours of duty was when he got off the ship in New York, a young woman spit on him and called him a "baby killer." "A cop wanted to know if I wanted to press charges and I told him 'I just want to go home.' It was a very unpopular war," said Hoyt. "I think we would have won if we had gone to North Vietnam."

Hoyt said he has been asked many times to join service organizations and serve on town boards in New Portland but he said he "just couldn't seem to be committed to such functions."

Hoyt loves the computer game WOW, "World of War Craft." "It's lots of fun."

Hoyt also keeps busy two days a week with his recycling business. He has 55 customers in New Portland and Kingfield picking up their garbage and recyclables and taking all the items to the Kingfield Transfer Station.

Hoyt married a woman in Vietnam and had two children, but after his divorce, he came back to Kingfield looking for land and found a former sweetheart, Sheila Poulin, who after a divorce and two children, was also single —so began their courtship once again and ultimately their marriage.

"Life is good now," said Hoyt.

The couple lives in a beautiful home on Route 27 that Hoyt has worked on for years, most recently building on a sun porch. The couple plan to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Sheila' son, Jonathan, in Melbourne, Fla.