By Bernie Marvin
On Veterans Day, 2026, I am reminded of my friend Herb Ash, Sheriff of Grafton County and the longest-serving elected sheriff in the United States, with 36 continuous years of service.
As Veterans Day rolls into view each year, I reserve my Bernie's Beat space to cover some veterans' news that might come my way. Over the 22 years of weekly columns, I have written for The Bridge Weekly since its founding day, or close to it. I have written about one friend in the past, but because of his outstanding background in several Marine Corps combat campaigns in World War 2, he was possibly the most popular person I had ever been associated with.
Herbie Ash, known fondly throughout the county during the 36 years he served in these parts, served his Sheriff's terms in early offices in Plymouth and at the North Haverhill Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff Herbert W. Ash was a wonderfully dedicated and widely respected friend in New Hampshire law enforcement, with an outstanding record as the High Sheriff of Grafton County for 36 years, until his death on December 19, 1989, at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
At re-election time every two years, it would not be unusual for Herb to call me, and we would get together in his office in North Haverhill or drop into the Happy Hour Restaurant for lunch and write up a re-election press release for circulation to the media and his tons of friends in law enforcement, law offices, and many other locations where his friends were.
Sheriff Ash was elected to office 19 consecutive times and was recognized by President George H.W. Bush shortly before Sheriff Ash's death as the longest-tenured county law enforcement official in the nation.
His toughness was forged in severe combat during World War II, where he served with the U.S. Marines. He lost his leg due to severe combat injuries sustained on Peleliu, a sacrifice that never slowed his decades of service to Grafton County and elsewhere.
Herb resided in Campton and was a familiar, authoritative presence from the county complex in North Haverhill down to the Baker River Valley; local genealogical records associate his lineage with the well-known Ash family names of the region. He also had two brothers who served in the Marine Corps during the wartime period.
Herb told me one time at lunch that when he had returned to the area after the war, a friend and fellow police officer, also a World War 2 Marine, Merritt A. "Red Mike" Edson, creator of the famed Marine Corps Edson's Raiders, asked him to move to Vermont and join him as he was hoping to set up a State Police force in Vermont, eventually to be known as the Vermont State Police. Edson needed police officers to join him, but Herb was a White Mountains boy, not a Green Mountain boy. He turned down "Red Mike" and kissed a good job with the brand-new Vermont State Police goodbye. But Herb was busy here, getting involved with the Grafton County Sheriff's Department and the office of Sheriff. Edson made history in Vermont; Ash made history here in New Hampshire.
Both men served long and well in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. Still, General Edson was a high-ranking combat leader who commanded the 1st Marine Raiders (and later the 5th Marines and the 2nd Marine Division). In contrast, Sheriff Ash served in the ranks where he suffered the combat injury that cost him his leg.
The story of "Red Mike" Edson and Herb Ash localizes aspects of their respective postwar careers in Vermont and nearby New Hampshire. General Edson famously returned to his home region and became the very first Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Safety when the Vermont State Police were formed in 1947.
Meanwhile, Herb Ash returned to New Hampshire, settling in Campton before launching his historic career as Grafton County Sheriff in 1951, a role he held for 36 years until his passing in 1989.
Herb would come down to our home in Haverhill Corner from time to time. He never failed to bring something to look at, usually a fish he had just caught, a new firearm he had acquired, or photos of things we found interesting.
On the evening of his wake, three of his friends donned their dress blue Marine Corps uniforms and traveled to Campton to honor his life and family. Colonel David Moore, Sergeant Jay Holden, and I participated in a brief exercise that paid tribute to his commitment to serve his country and community.