Dan Rittenhouse: Service in multiple languages

By Charlie Souhrada, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

The eldest of eight children, Dan Rittenhouse learned early on how to adapt and serve – two themes that played major roles in his military career and throughout his life. 

Born November 30, 1947, in Fairmont, Minnesota, Dan estimates his family lived in about 20 different residences when he was growing up. “My dad had a wandering way of looking at things and he was never satisfied at any one job or place for very long,” he says. 

Despite constant movement and limited finances, Dan loved the experience and remains in close contact with his brothers and sisters to this day. “It’s unusual to have a family as close as we are,” he says with pride. “The first Sunday of every month, we’re on a Zoom call to get together and visit.”  

In a testament to their faith, Dan’s parents, Francis and Thelma, insisted on sending all of their children to Catholic school. To satisfy this commitment, and make ends meet, Francis worked two to three jobs while Thelma initially stayed home to raise the children then later worked part time. Their sacrifices allowed Dan, who wanted to become a priest, to attend Duluth Cathedral High School for his first three years, then transfer to a junior seminary school in Carthage, Missouri, where he finished high school in 1965.

After high school, Dan planned to attend a seminary connected to a junior college in Carthage, but the junior college closed operations. Instead, Dan went back home, enrolled in the University of Minnesota in Duluth, and tried to take a full course load while working full time. “After one full year, I realized that I just couldn’t do it, so I had to drop out of college,” he says. “With Vietnam going on, I thought ‘I’m going to make my choice as to the branch of service and go in the Navy.’” 

In February 1968, Dan enlisted and hoped to attend boot camp in San Diego. “That seemed like a much warmer place to be rather than Great Lakes,” he says. “But my mother was very ill at the time. I thought I’d better be close just in case.” Two weeks after entering boot camp, Dan’s mother passed away. After a week off, he went back to boot camp and finished in April. 

During boot camp, Dan took a battery of tests and scored the third highest ever in the language test. Because of his proficiency, the Navy sent him to the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, California, for linguistic and cultural immersion. “They assigned me the Russian language which meant 37 weeks of straight Russian taught by defectors from the Soviet Union.” 

He explains several languages were being taught at the same time and each language group was segregated from the others. Russian students lived in a separate barracks and when they weren’t in class, they’d practice and speak Russian. “After graduating, I was fairly fluent,” he says. “In fact, sometimes I still dream in Russian!”  

After graduating from the Institute, Dan was sent to Goodfellow Air Force Base, in San Angelo, Texas, for 12 weeks of “technical” Russian instruction. “From there, I thought I wanted to be in the submarine program, so I went out to New London Naval Base, in Groton, Connecticut, for submarine school.” After finishing sub school in fall 1969, Dan petitioned to go to Vietnam. Instead, he was sent to Misawa Air Base, in Misawa, Japan, approximately 600 miles southeast of Russia. “I went there on a ‘temporary assignment’ and was there for three years! They had a need and I fit into their operations.”

Dan says he enjoyed Navy life and loved what he was doing. “Being part of the Naval Security Group was rewarding. We were a close-knit family and I enjoyed the camaraderie.” 

In 1971, he reenlisted and nearly repeated the path his military career took three years before. He was sent back to the Defense Language Institute, this time for Arabic instruction, down to Goodfellow Air Force Base for technical training, then assigned to the U.S. embassy in Cyprus, where he served from 1973-74. 

In 1974, the U.S. closed operations in Cyprus, and Dan was assigned to National Security Agency headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland.  Soon after, Dan heard that Turkish forces landed in Cyprus and leveled the operations building where he had worked. 

After returning to the U.S., Dan became severely ill. “Probably something I picked up in the Middle East,” he thinks. “I checked into the hospital and was there from the end of January through the end of May.” While the medical teams from Bethesda, Walter Reed and Johns Hopkins tried to identify the cause, his weight dropped from 215 to 139 pounds. “I was a skeleton wasting away.”  

Eventually, it was agreed that removing Dan’s colon was the only option. After the operation, the surgeon told Dan that he had only given him a 5% chance of survival! “I take things for what they are,” he says. “If it’s good, fantastic! I give thanks for the blessing. If it’s not, then I figure out how to fix it and live with it and go from there.” 

After surviving his surgery, Dan was at a decision point, and met with a doctor in Bethesda to review his case. “I see you’re a career man,” the doctor told Dan. “I can sway the board so that you can continue serving, but only in a light duty. Or I can sway the board the other way and retire you right now.” Together, they made the decision and Dan retired from service with full service-connected disability. 

Unfortunately, after six years in the service, Dan was lost. “There was no one to turn to for guidance. I got my discharge, a piece of paper, and that was it.” He moved to California briefly, then moved east to Nevada where he took a job with Bently Nevada Corporation measuring the vibration of rotating machinery. In the late ‘70s, the company sent him to Burr Ridge. There, his first wife announced she didn’t want to be married anymore, that he was “the better parent,” and left him with their three children. 

In the mid-80s, he met Gisela, who also had three children, and worked at a bank in Bolingbrook. “I had my account at that bank, went in to get my ex-wife off my account. Gisela was the one who helped me! One of the other gals at the bank got news of what had happened, and she told Gisela – ‘he’s a really nice guy!’” From that chance meeting, a relationship bloomed, and the couple married on May 24, 1986, blended their families, and moved to their current home in Lemont. “I finally found stability in my life!” 

In 1995, he joined a new company, Marland Clutch, which specialized in one-way clutches and backstops, retiring from there in 2018. 

In 2005, Dan was ordained as a deacon in the Diocese of Joliet and currently serves at St Alphonsus/St Patrick Parish in Lemont, “The word deacon means servant,” he says. “Being in the military, you’re serving the country and going beyond yourself. As a deacon, you’re putting other people first. I feel being in the Navy and serving our country laid a good foundation for serving both physically and spiritually – it goes hand in hand.”  

It’s our turn to put you first! Thank you, Dan, for your service!