Serving his country was something Bill Henderson, 64, had planned to do since he was a teenager.

The Montana native had his sights set on participating in the military through college at Montana State University in Bozeman where he served two years in the Army R.O.T.C. He first thought about becoming an army helicopter pilot but after studying the Navy nuclear program, he decided to enter the Navy.

“It was a very important part of my life,” Henderson reflects, “and I would be willing to do it again.” Henderson joined in 1965 as part of the draft at a time when there was high tension between the United States and Russia during the Cold War. He served aboard the USS Tautog SSN639, a fast attack sub equipped with nuclear weapons and equipment built to perform reconnaissance missions in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. “They (fast attack submarines) were on patrols where nobody knew where they went,” he said. “They would gather information during the Vietnam War and Cold War.”

As an E-6 submariner, Henderson worked as a mechanical nuclear operator, working on the nuclear reactor system, a high-clearance job. “We were running the mechanical end of what the reactor was providing power for,” he said. This included the main engines, air conditioning, water purifier and the nuclear system aboard the sub.

He received a commendation for his work.

During the 1960s, relations between the United States, Cuba and the Soviet Union escalated. While the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred while Henderson was still in high school, he recalls the reconnaissance work that was performed near Cuba a few years after the ordeal because of the lingering tension.

If it had escalated further, he said, “that wouldn’t have been pretty because the United States had enough power there to take care of that situation,” he said.

The crew that served alongside Henderson was the first to board the Tautog, so they took the sub out for sea trials, testing its abilities. They departed from Mississippi, doing reconnaissance patrols in the Atlantic involving Russia and Cuba. Then they traveled through the Panama Canal, and finally over to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where it was home ported. They travelled to the North Pole as well.

To this day, Henderson hesitates to say too much about what went on. Much of the sub’s missions were – and still are – top secret information. Although the Tautog is now retired, even information on its abilities has continued to remain classified.

His wife, Annette, of 43 years remembers the times he was out on missions and the difficulties when he was away. “I’m glad he did it even though I didn’t like him being away,” she said. “It was a giving up of time being together. It’s not a very secure feeling to say, ‘I’ll see you in six months or a year.’ ”

Still, she says she’s proud her husband served the country he loves so much. “It was his way of giving back...” she said.

Henderson was transferred to the USS Scamp SSN588 for the last few months of active duty for debriefing. It was stationed at the Bremerton Shipyard in dry dock.

Henderson served six years active duty in the submarine service, finally leaving military life in 1971. “At that time I had a wife and son, and my parents were getting closer to retiring from farming,” he said. Henderson then served two years in the inactive reserve.

“I wouldn’t trade that time for anything,” he said. “I felt honored to serve my country. Participating in the continued effort for the freedom of the United States was a privilege.”

reporter@sidneyherald.com