Val Raugas
Val Raugas is a tour guide at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation. He has been a volunteer at the Memorial since 2009. Val enlisted in the Marine Corps Officer Selection Program as a college student at Trenton State College. He then completed two officer candidate summer programs In Quantico, Virginia. Upon graduation from College in 1962, Val was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve and went on active duty for a three-year military obligation.
In college, Val majored in Math, minored in English, and received a B.A. degree in 1962 along with certifications to teach.
Val was on active duty from 1962 - 1965 spending two tours of duty on Okinawa with the 3rd Marine Division. His military occupation specialty was Communications Officer and he was assigned to stand communication watches at the Division communication center. When deployed in the field Val worked in a Marine Expeditionary Force communication center. He was later assigned as platoon commander of a communications platoon. After completing 19 months of service in Okinawa, Val returned to the United States and was assigned to the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in Cherry Point, North Carolina as Communications Watch Officer and later as assistant communications officer with a Marine Air Group.
Upon completion of his three-year military obligation Val took a job as a Math teacher in Elizabeth, New Jersey and taught junior high school and middle school math for six year. While teaching, he completed a course of study for a Masters degree and also completed a prescribed course of studies for a professional diploma and certification in School Psychology. He then was re-assigned as school psychologist and continued in that capacity until his retirement in 2006.
Val also remained in the Marine Corps Reserves and served as a Rifle Platoon Commander and as Company Commander in the Motor Transport Battalion. He had completed his active duty obligation with the rank of 1st Lieutenant and he was promoted to Captain while in the Reserves. He maintained his Reserve status and served voluntarily in these and other assignments until 1973.
Val resides in Hazlet, New Jersey with his wife Dale and his daughter, Valerie. He also has a son, Dr. Mark Raugas, from a previous marriage.
Val belongs to the American Legion and the Marine Corps League. He also is very active in honoring and providing assistance at military funerals for those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For recreation, Val is an avid reader but he also rides a motorcycle, exercises, runs, and skis. He also was an avid rock climber and a scuba diver for a significant part of his life.
Val volunteered at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation as a Vietnam Era Veteran. “My generation held sacred the ideals of preserving freedom, personal sacrifice, and service for country. Vietnam was the war of that generation.”