Havasu Veterans | Don Ambuehl: Skilled hands served him well

After his near-deathly battle with covid, Ambuehl relocated to the city from Quartzsite to receive better care for his health. The veteran mentions that his daughter previously contracted the illness but did not have the same positive outcome that he did.

“We had a daughter at that time and she lived in Havasu here. She got sick so we stood by her in the hospital all the time. Her lungs filled up with fluid and she was on the respirator. They took her to Phoenix and we went along, but she didn’t last for very long so she died,” Ambuehl said. “Shortly after she died, I came down with the same thing. My lungs filled up with the same deal. I think her and I both had it but I lived through it.”

Ambuehl lived in Quartzsite for around 20 years with his wife and owned his own woodworking shop where he made coffee tables, walking canes, dressers, end tables, and dining room tables. After becoming ill, he had to put an end to his work.

“When I got sick, I had to quit. I would spend up to six or eight hours in the shop making stuff,” Ambuehl said.

Spending most of his life living and working on a family farm in Minnesota, Ambuehl found working with machinery to come natural to him. He was drafted when he was 22 years old and spent time working with other heavy equipment which provided him with some comforts of home.

“I was in the Army but I was under the Air Force. It was a little different deal,” Ambuehl said. “They drafted me. The National Guard were going in for only two years so I switched to over there.”

The veteran did not experience negative times during his short service years as a corporal, spending only 20 months there before returning home to Minnesota.

“I just really didn’t have any rough times in the service. It was pretty easygoing,” Ambuehl stated.

One memory that stands out in his mind is of his travels to the south after he was drafted by the National Guard.

“I was surprised when we went in and left Minnesota, it was about 35 or 39 degrees below. We went on the train, it was a steam train, and we went south. It was so cold that they had to pull one car at a time to get the wheels to turn on it and they finally got it going,” Ambuehl remembered. “All of the National Guard guys got in and then we headed south. Then they came over with one of those new diesel engines and we were all excited about that. Then we got down to Alabama and it was so moist on there.”

After Ambuehl decided to leave for home, he was reluctant to maintain his required scheduled meetings.

“I had to stay in the National Guard but I didn’t care for it. I had to drive 40 miles just to go to the meetings so I pretty much ignored them,” Ambuehl said. “After about three years, I finally got a full discharge.”

The veteran recounts serving in the military at the same time as his brother, who enlisted in the Air Force after he finished with high school. He remembers his brother took a great liking to the new lifestyle, which led to Ambuehl to reconsider his initial thoughts about joining permanently.

“About that time, the staff sergeant that we had that came out of Korea, he was a drunk. He was sitting on the back step of the barracks, sitting there hollering at everybody and I thought, ‘Is that what I want to be?’” Ambuehl said. “After I thought about that a little while, I thought I was going to end up being like him, a drunk sitting there yelling at guys.”

Witnessing this change in temperament led Ambuehl to forgo any decisions to stay in the service on a more permanent basis.

The veteran goes on to speak about his time living and working in Alaska, after a job opening was mentioned to him in passing.

“When I got out of the service, I met Lois and we got married. She was working in a men’s clothing store and I was working for my dad. I was told to go out to the pipeline,” Ambuehl continued. “They had just started the pipeline operation. I went out there and talked to this guy and I started that and things grew from one thing to the other.”

With his previous background in handling heavy machinery, Ambuehl found the transition from the military to the pipeline workforce to be a cinch.

“In 1976, the pipeline was just starting in Alaska. I pretty much knew enough about it. So, they took me up there and I worked from 1976 until ’84. I did maintenance on one of the pump stations right by the Yukon River. Every morning, I’d get up and look out my window and see the Yukon River out there,” Ambuehl said. “I worked 12 hour days, seven days a week when we were out there.”

When his position was eliminated in 1984, Ambuehl and his wife Lois retired and bought a motorhome. The couple began to spend each year traveling back to Alaska.

“[I’d] find a job somewhere. I remember one time way out in the wilderness, we were hundreds of miles from anywhere,” Ambuehl said. “When we were done with that project, it was fall so we got into the motorhome and came down here again.”

In 1989, the two retirees upgraded their motorhome and switched over to a bus. They ended up traveling back to Alaska to find more work. After another position he held was eliminated, Ambuehl and his wife made the decision to travel around the country.

“In 1999, we bought a double-wide lot [in Quartzsite] and that became our permanent home. We got rid of the bus and we’ve lived in the heat ever since,” Ambuehl said.

Ambuehl gives credit to his time in the National Guard making note of the discipline he received while in the service.

“The military had showed me the direction I wanted to go because I did like heavy equipment,” Ambuehl remembered. “When I had started on the pipeline, I got to work around these big pumps and motors. I was just mechanically inclined I guess.”

Being a Minnesotan at heart who grew up on a farm, Ambuehl was able to branch out and serve his country during its time of need. Although his experience was short-lived, the veteran shows appreciation for the mechanical skills he was able to enhance which ultimately led to a life full of traveling the country he once served under.