Henry Shen:
CLASS OF 1969
Mt. Edgecumbe High SchoolClass of 1969
Sitka, AK
University of Alaska Class of 1978
Fairbanks, AK
Central Arizona CollegeClass of 1975
Coolidge, AZ
Covenant High SchoolClass of 1969
Unalakleet, AK
Mountain Village SchoolClass of 1965
Mountain village, AK
Henry's Story
Life
It has been over 4 yrs that we have been in Ketchikan. This was my twilight tour. I've been retired as of 4 days ago. It was ~27 yrs of active military service in the US Navy, US Public Health Service with assignments to the Indian Health Service and the Coast Guard. I served over 20 years of uninterrupted service with the CG. The prevous Commanding Officer paid me a visit to the Clinic just to tell me that I must have a retirement ceremony. I had planned on quietly fading away. It turned out to be a very memorable occasion and I'm glad I took his advice.
We are now in the process of purchasing a house in the Anchorage area. My mind was set on living in a log cabin home, but after multiple attempts to find one of our liking we have finally settled for a conventional house that is not conventional. Most of the log cabin houses were old enough that dry and wet rot with some logs collapsing at the base made them uninhabitable. It was a heart breaker, because there were some that were just beautiful in scenic locations. We still have our Victorian house in Astoria and will be living there part of the year.
I am still interested in pursuing an MA in Leadership and Ministry with emphasis in Evangelism. Once we're settled in I'm applying to an online program.
Life in Ketchikan has been good over all. We have established good friends here and parting will be a little difficult, but we're not leaving Alaska and we'll still stay in touch. It is a beautiful place, but the rain has gotten to me, try as I may not to let it bother me. Because of the frequent rain it allowed me to spend time learning to play the Alto Recorder, a wind instrument. Learning the fingering was not difficult because of my high school experience in playing the Alto Sax. I can now play over 50 hymns and find comfort in the melody of the song I'm playing. I played a few hymns at the Friend's Church in Kotzebue when I was there on a two week deployment with the CG.
It's been years since I've updated my Classmates profile. I spent a lot of time in fb, but I still get notices of folks I know popping into Classmates. I'll update the latest info once we're settled in our "permanent" home.
Workplace
I was a Medical Officer/Flight Surgeon detailed to the US Coast Guard. My previous assignments were in the Indian Health Service in Bethel and Anchorage, AK, 1985-87 and 1987-89 respectively. Those are memorable years and ones that I cherish.
I left USPHS Active Duty service when my NHSC Scholarship obligation was fulfilled. I worked in the Seattle, WA area in ambulatory care medicine in both Urgent Care/Industrial Medicine type of practice and ambulatory care/Family Practice clinic. Each have their strengths and weaknesses, but the experiences are ones I wouldn't trade for another.
I felt my life's calling was in the Uniformed Services and reactivated my commission accepting an assignment to the US Coast Guard. The experiences I've had were extraordinarily phenomenal. I am proud to have served the men and women of the US Coast Guard. The life of a flight surgeon was immensely rewarding and I wouldn't have changed the choice I made to work in that field.
I am not planni...Expand for more
ng on working in the medical field again although I may do periodic hourly work as a volunteer.
Military
It's been a privilege working with the men and women of the Uniformed Services. My first exposure was in the US Navy just 2 wks after high school graduation. Being a boarding student helped a lot in terms of life in the barracks...it was just stricter. Boot Camp taught me a lot about commitment and service. It's a choice I will never regret.
I was first assigned to the Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, Calif. There I met a couple sailors whom I'd been looking for since they left on Swift Boat assignment in Vietnam. I have since found one of them (Dudley - after 36 years of searching) who retired from the US Navy and has taken up a second career. John remains missing, but my search continues. I moved on to Hospital Corps School and eventually to Field Med School training in Camp Pendleton, Calif. with a final assignment to Third Marine Division Okinawa as an FMF Corpsman.
I was a USPHS Medical Officer with the Coast Guard for 20 yrs of uninterrupted service. My work as a Flight Surgeon was extremely rewarding in managing various medical emergencies in the Pacific Region on land or water. My first experience in the Atlantic waters and vicinity was in Cape Cod. The experiences in Alaska as a medevac physician in Bethel and working with Village Health Aides were extremely useful in remote and austere conditions. That experience potentiated the experiences I faced in the Coast Guard. I continued Flight Surgeon Watches in Alaska including the North Pacific Rim, Bering Sea, and the Arctic Ocean for over 2 years. I stopped doing it when my health was compromised enough that I could no longer take the stress it brought.
The highlight of service in the Central Pacific were medevac flights in CG C-130 airplanes and HH-65 helicopters. Most were long distance flights to far away Islands and Atolls. I've been to Midway, Wake, American Samoa (to name a few) on many occasions for such flights. There were times when I flew alone and other times accompanied by CG Corpsmen or US Air Force Aero-Medical Teams. My first flight was to Christmas Island East of Australia. The smallest atoll we landed on was at Palmyra, essentially a landing strip surrounded by the ocean waters used during WWII. It was incredibly hot there.
Medevac/Airevac services in Cape Cod, Astoria, and Port Angeles were short distance flights in helicopters or Falcon jets compared to the long distance flights flown in the Central Pacific region. In spite of their shortness they were dangerous because of fog, winds, darkness, and sea/terrain conditions. I miss the long distance flights in the C-130's. There was ample time to stabilize pt's enroute to a tertiary care facility.
My CG assignments to date have been Astoria, OR 1993-97, 2006-09, Port Angeles, WA 1997-2002, Honolulu, HI 2002-05, Cape Cod, MA AUG'05-APR'06, Ketchikan, AK JUN'09-Present.
The picture above was taken while I was delivering my retirement speech. I retired as an O-6 Medical Director, a USPHS rank equivalent to a Navy Captain or Army Colonel. The next step up would have been Admiral.
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