After a year of college, Mike Harvey was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving from 1969 to 1971 as a combat engineer, including a tour in Plaque, Vietnam.

A former Vernon Hills resident now living in Burr Ridge, Harvey said he learned a lot during his time in the Army. Though many Vietnam veterans were not treated well when they came home, he said he was not one of them. He got a major benefit when he returned to college.

“I got the last three years of my education paid for by the G.I. Bill,” Harvey said, referring to the government program that pays for veterans’ college costs. “The war was unpopular then, but it’s not that way 50 years later.”

Harvey was one of 36 U.S. Armed Forces veterans receiving lapel pins for their service during the Vietnam era from U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-H

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