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Veterans were honored and given quilts during the Threads of Valor ceremony at the Kosciusko County Senior Center Tuesday.
Those honored with quilts were Johnny Eugene Frame Sr., Stephen Adams, Robert Armstrong, Ronald Boothe, David Busenburg, Joshua Hartzell, Billie Haywood, Allen Mitchell, Breeanna Robinson, Stanley Stutzman and Clifford Wogoman. Wynn Erman Swindell was nominated for a quilt but was unable to attend the ceremony.
Liberty Sewing Circle coordinator Marsha Huffman read the biographies of the veterans honored with quilts Tuesday.
Frame served in the U.S. Marines. He started in 1970 and was discharged as a private and did not see combat.
Adams served in the Army and was discharged as a specialist E-4. He served from 1969-71 during the Vietnam War.
Armstrong served in the Army from 1969-71 during the Vietnam War. He was discharged as an E-5.
Boothe served in the Marines and was discharged as a lance corporal. He served for four years during the Vietnam War.
Busenburg served in the Army from 1960-64 during the Vietnam War and did not see combat.
Hartzell served in the Army from 1999-2005 during Iraqi Freedom. His stations included Iraq and Kuwait.
Haywood served in the Army from 1965-67 during the Vietnam War and was discharged as an E-5.
Mitchell served in the Army from 1965-67 during the Vietnam War.
Robinson served in the Army and was discharged an E-4 specialist.
Stutzman served in the Army and was discharged as an E-5.
Wogoman served in the Army from 1964-67 during the Vietnam War and was discharged as an E-5.
Swindell served in the United States Marine Corps from 1972-1973 and was stationed in Pensacola.
Huffman said the word to remember Tuesday was service. The veterans answer the call of duty. They put on a uniform, many risking life and limb “in the face of great dangers in service of our country, protecting the ideals of America of liberty, freedom and justice that we have today.” She asked attendees to join her in showing the veterans gratitude for their service.
“We must never forget the untold sacrifices they have endured, for us at home and around the world,” she said. Many veterans have stories to share and many have stories they will never share.
Veterans represent the foundation of the country.
“They are the pillars of our communities and our society. They know what service means,” she said.
Huffman said the veterans at Tuesday’s event came from different walks of life, but they hold similar qualities: courage, pride, service and dedication to the country.
Huffman said sometimes a veteran wants to decline receiving a quilt for various reasons such as the veteran didn’t see combat or to give someone older or more deserving a quilt, but “to us, there is nobody that is more deserving than any veteran that has served our country.”
One thing she reminded people is the homefront needed to be defended as well.
David Neff, executive director of Kosciusko Senior Services, shared the sacrifices of veterans in his family he knows of first hand. Neff’s late father was in the Navy and his late brother was in the Army. Their sacrifice to Neff as a non-veteran was for Neff to be able to go to college.
“That was their sacrifice because they couldn’t go. So sacrifices take many, many means and ideas ...,” Neff said, adding citizens have to make sure they don’t take veterans’ sacrifices for granted. He said because of veterans’ sacrifices, people live in a free country. He noted there was an election Nov. 3, which was paid for by the blood of veterans. He said even if people don’t like the outcome of an election, because of sacrifices of veterans, people get another chance to vote.
Guest speaker Ken Locke said he gets asked why he’s so passionate about veterans. It’s not because he’s a veteran himself.
He told a story about his friend, Mike, who served in combat in Vietnam. Mike served during a time when soliders were told when they came home “you do not wear your uniform when you get to the United States of America.”
When Mike came back to the U.S., he flew from California to what Locke thought was safe, Iowa. Mike took a bus back home from the airport, then a cab from the bus station. The cabbie asked Mike where he was coming from. When Mike told the cabbie he got back from Vietnam, Locke said the cabbie pulled over and told Mike to get out of the cab, “in the rain.”
When Mike got home and told everyone what happened, Locke said he thought, “It will be a cold day in Florida” before he doesn’t honor veterans for their service.
It wasn’t long after Mike’s incident where another friend of Locke’s died in Vietnam.
Locke also talked about the rest of Mike’s military career and the effects he dealt with due to Agent Orange.
He said he doesn’t want the country to put veterans through what they went through coming home from Vietnam again. The country should honor all veterans.
Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose said to all veterans present Tuesday, “and those no longer with us, we extend our deepest gratitude for your service, for your sacrifices and your unwaivering commitment to this great country. Today, like Ken Locke has said countless times, we are reminded once again, freedom is not free. It is earned through the dedication and courage of those who stood in harm’s way, ensuring the safety and well-being of their fellow citizens.”
Veterans exemplify the values that bind the citizens of the U.S., he said.
