Iowa National Guard photo Actor Chuck Norris puts a fake arm bar on Iowa National Guard soldier Tyce Oesterle of Denver and Waterloo as he reenlists during a deployment to Iraq in 2006.

I just heard Chuck Norris passed away at age 86. There’s a group of Iowa National Guard soldiers who won’t forget him — and not just because they may have liked his movies and his hit TV series “Walker: Texas Ranger.”

Twenty years ago, the TV and movie star and martial arts expert personally helped boost the spirits of those soldiers on a grueling deployment.

In 2006, when our Waterloo-headquartered Iowa National Guard battalion — the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry regiment — was on deployment to Iraq, soldier Tyce Oesterle, a graduate of Waterloo West High School who lived in Denver north of Waterloo, said he would only reenlist if Chuck Norris showed up and twisted one arm behind his back.

Chuck Norris did just that. He happened to be on a goodwill tour with the troops in Iraq at the time. He heard about Tyce’s “dare” and gladly obliged.

Tyce’s mom called me about it and I did a story about it in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. The original story is linked here. Col. Greg Hapgood, then public affairs officer with the Iowa Guard, helped lined up a phone conversation with Tyce from Iraq and provided a photo of the event.

The actor’s gesture was well received and a big hit with our soldiers on deployment — the soldiers of the 1/133rd and the entire 34th National Guard “Red Bull” Infantry Division, part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which included soldiers from Iowa and Minnesota.

It provided a light moment in a very tough 22-month deployment from 2005-07 in which the 1/133rd, dubbed the “Ironman Battalion” for its consecutive days in combat in Italy during World War II, saw its first combat since then.

The modern-day successors of those World War II soldiers served 17 months in country in Iraq; their deployment had been extended as part of President George W. Bush’s “surge” initiative. The battalion has served multiple deployments since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., in addition to flood and tornado relief at home.

Hard to believe that was 20 years ago. “Chuck Norris Facts” was a series of humorous memes and jokes about the actor that began circulating online at about that time. Well, here’s a “Chuck Norris fact:” The star of “Walker: Texas Ranger” served as a military policeman in the U.S. Air Force.

Hats off to our “Ironman” soldiers and their families for their service and to Mr. Norris for his service and support.

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Pat Kinney is a former longtime Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reporter and editor. He still writes freelance and works at the Grout Museum District in Waterloo.