Traveling WV: Veteran Cane Maker
GANDEEVILLE, W.Va. (WCHS) — Vietnam veteran Robert Konarske, of Roane County, has natural-born talent as a woodworker, but it's his big heart that garners most of the accolades.
Around the small town of Gandeeville and surrounding areas, he's known as the cane man. He gives fellow veterans handmade walking canes created in his mountaintop workshop at no charge.
Konarske was part of a combat dog tracker team in the northern region of Vietnam, specifically in the DaNang area. He volunteered for this duty while doing infantry training at Fort Polk, Louisiana.
"They came around and asked who would like to work with dogs as a tracker," Konarske, explained. "Like a fool I put my hand up."
He's kidding of course. Konarske currently owns two big Labrador Retrievers and obviously has a special place in his heart for the breed. His beloved combat partner Opal, a female black lab, is never far from his mind.
"I owe my life to a lab and I've had a lab ever since." Konarske said.
After his combat dog handler training, Konarske went to Vietnam in 1971 and served one year. The experience has stuck with him, and he speaks of it like it was yesterday.
"We were a five-man team. The dogs offered another layer of security with their nose and hearing. I learned my dog to the point where by the way she reacted to things, I could say there's something 75 yards over there, chances are it was the enemy," Konarske recalled. "If I was asked to do it again, I'd do it in a heartbeat. It was a great job."
Robert made his first cane for a tracker buddy he served with who had to have a knee replaced. He has cane number one and things just took off from there.
"When I finish this batch, I'll be at 2,050," Konarske said.
Robert takes his canes to veterans' hospitals, clinics and his annual combat tracker team reunion. The reaction to these special gifts means a lot to both giver and receiver.
"I've given them to guys and they've actually cried. When they find out that another veteran made it, it's like brother helping brother," Konarske added.
You can contact Robert Konarske through his Facebook page.
