Veterans Day always humbles Wallace Alcorn.

Alcorn, 95, is a veteran of the U.S. Naval Reserve, the Army and the Army Reserve. He gave 43 years of his life, from 1947 to 1990, serving the country.

“On such occasions as Veterans Day, I indeed feel honored and I thank those who say, ‘Thank you for your service,’ ” Alcorn said.

“Yet, I feel humbled by those who have given of themselves far more than I have. They are my heroes. I have a profound sense that my country has given me more than I have been able to give it,” Alcorn said, adding that “aside from several decorations and awards, the reward is in the serving.”

Alcorn discussed four decades plus of serving during a recent morning at Covenant Living at Windsor Park in Carol Stream, where he lives with wife Ann, 93. They live in the independent living section.

Most of his years in the reserves were spent teaching and being a chaplain. He saw no combat. He served in the North Atlantic, Germany, Honduras and Panama.

Alcorn has a Ph.D in the history of the philosophy of education. Among the many places he taught was the Moody Bible Institute.

Alcorn was sworn into the Naval Reserve in 1947 on his 17th birthday.

“It was during World War II and every red-blooded man did,” he said.

Thanks to a glitch, he was drafted by the Army while in the Naval Reserve. He stayed with the military in a reserve role until his 60th birthday in 1990, long after his active service ended, because he simply enjoyed it.

“I was benefitting so much from it, almost in every way. Education, training, experience, travel, multicultural exposure,” he said.

A third of his 43 years was spent in active duty. The rest was in active reserve, which meant he had one weekend each month of active duty and two weeks each year in training. He went to school on the GI Bill, graduating from Wheaton College and the graduate school of theology. With his background in theology, it stands to reason he served many years as a chaplain.

Military service runs in the family. A great-great-grandfather was a chaplain for the Union Army in the Civil War, and an earlier ancestor was a surgeon during the Revolutionary War, he said.

All his years as a chaplain led to sobering memories that stay with him to this day. He conducted 33 funerals for Vietnam veterans who died in service.

“It was a very hard assignment, but probably the most rewarding because people needed me and I was there when they needed me,” Alcorn said. “What was even more difficult was I was on survivor assistance where we gave the official announcement (of the death of a serviceman or woman),” he said.

When in New Jersey as a preacher, he had the task of breaking the worst possible news to a family. He knew the father and went to the car dealership where the man worked.

“The owner and sales manager saw me walk in. Right away, they stiffened because they knew (the employee’s) son was in Vietnam. He walked up and asked ‘Am I in trouble?’ I said, ‘Yes, but I’m with you,’ ” Alcorn recalled.

Typically, an officer would make the announcement and then Alcorn as chaplain would talk with the survivors.

Alcorn, who was born on Aug. 29, 1930, in Milwaukee, was living there when he enlisted in 1947. While in the service during the Korean and Vietnam wars, he served stateside. Some of his assignments found him at the Great Lakes Naval Base and Fort Sheridan near Chicago and in Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Iowa and Texas.

Asked what he’d say to young people today about the military, he said he would suggest they serve but refrain on making it a career choice until they are certain it’s for them.

“It isn’t for everyone,” he said of the military.

Yet he knows of those whose lives were straightened out after being in military service.

Even now, some 35 years after he left the service, Alcorn, who was a colonel when he stepped down, said, “I miss it very much.”

He recalled a visit to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri several years ago.

“Driving through, I saw troops in formation and I wanted in the worst way to get out of my car and get in the midst of those guys and get to know them,” he said.

After his time in the reserves ended, he saw a soldier at O’Hare Airport one day who obviously was in despair. Alcorn sensed the soldier needed someone to talk with. He walked up and told him he had been a chaplain.

Alcorn was able to help console the soldier who was grappling with the death of his father. Alcorn found that moment rewarding, knowing he had helped.

Asked if he has special plans for his 100th birthday in 2030, Alcorn smiled and said, “I never thought I’d get this far.”

He and Ann have been married since 1958. They have three adult children – a high school teacher, a university professor and a federal attorney – and two grandchildren.