United States Army veteran Sid Savage of Kingfield. (Laura Dunham photo) KINGFIELD — A Kingfield veteran claims he is probably the only man in town that has three legs.

Everything was going great for Sid Savage around 1969 when as a Senior NCO in the United States Army, he and his wife, Loraine, and then two children, Mark and Melissa, were heading for their new tour of duty in Alaska. We were in British Columbia when someone ran a red light, and the rest is history," said Savage.

"I was in the hospital for a week and then when I got to Alaska my job was gone they put me into a different outfit and on crutches I was 'just no good.' My time was up after 12 years in August and I wanted to reenlist but the doctors advised me not to.

"We decided to come back to Kingfield where I bought a skidder I could drive but I couldn't get up and down, so I went into the trucking business for 30 years owning Straight Line Trucking. Our son, Michael, was born in 1970 and our late son, Marshall, was born in 1976."

About five years ago, Savage purchased the land on the Meldrum Road (for a junkyard) but instead built his and Lorraine's new home.

Sid Savage shows off his leg made of titanium. (Laura Dunham photo) In 1991 Savage was on Route 145 showing his son, Michael, how to drive a truck heavily loaded with logs when they were involved in an accident, with Savage breaking his right leg.

In 2001 Savage had his first knee replacement and has had about 28 surgeries in his leg, which developed a fungus and finally had to be amputated in 2004. Since then Savage, who has been a great supporter of the Veteran's Administration at Togus for the past 38 years, had at least three titanium legs, which he says, mechanically work like a miracle allowing him to operate "just about anything."

"You have to go to Togus to the Veteran's Hospital with a good attitude and you have to have patience," he said as he spoke about his fourth new leg that he was fitted for last Friday and hasn't quite learned how to walk with yet.

Savage said he loved the service and especially his tour of duty in Alaska. "It took some getting use to there. When we first went to Alaska, Mark was just six weeks old, the airplane made three attempts to land at Ft. Greeley and when we got out it was 78 degrees below with the wind chill factor," said Savage. He was not as keen on his 14 months in Korea during the Cuban Crisis, "It was cold and damp most of the time."

"When I was stationed in Aberdeen, Md., I knew I was training for Vietnam." Savage went for one year and he felt like it was five years. "I never worked so hard in my life. Seven days a week working on construction, building roads with the A company as a sergeant with youngsters from 18 to 22 years old serving under me."

"I was in a fox hole for the better part of the first year I was in Vietnam. Marijuana was plentiful. There was also about 13 miles of road that was blown up about every night. The best part, each of us had five days of R and R with our wives in Hawaii."

Veteran's Day means a lot to Savage in part because he is so proud of his grandson, Lance Cpl. Travis Hupper, who is currently on duty in Okinawa where he is the chauffeur for a colonel.

He doesn't believe, however, that Veterans' Day means a lot to the public, who he feels has very little respect for veterans.

"The military really carved out my life after joining at the age of 18," said Savage, who is now retired.

What does Savage think about the war in Iraq? "It's stupid. We're over there spending so much money and not taking care of our own people."

Savage and his wife, Loraine, have been married for 47 years and both belong to the Norton/Wuori American Legion and Auxiliary where Sidney is the Adjutant and Lorraine is the president, respectively.