Veterans appreciate community's support

Veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam attended ceremonies at Wahkiakum High School on Wednesday, and Julius Wendt Elementary School on Thursday morning, last week.

Elementary school staff wiped tears during the assembly, and they weren’t the only ones weeping.

Veteran Bob Roche, who attended with his wife Esther, said “I was sitting in the back in tears.”

Roche is involved with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was a past VFW District Commander.

“What always gets me is their enthusiasm and their sincerity,” Roche said.

At the elementary school, Mike Thomas, Lt. Col., USAR, told children that soldiers “want to protect you because they love you,” and he reminded them to say hello to veterans when they could.

World War II veteran Ralph Kenner said this was the third time he attended the Veteran’s Day assembly. Kenner served in the Philippines, but said it would be too dangerous to go back for a visit.

Dennis Reid brought pictures of his basic training company and service medals for the school display case, which he discussed with Gary York, a sailor who took basic in 1958 in San Diego and later served on the Yorktown, an aircraft carrier.

“This (assembly) didn’t happen when we came back from Vietnam,” said Reid, a US Navy veteran. “I was being spit on and people threw garbage,” when he was discharged from the service in Jacksonville, Fl.

“And they didn’t do this when my children were in school,” Reid said, who was living in eastern Washington at the time. “The teachers were hippies and they didn’t believe in it.”

During the high school assembly students watched a clip of former Chicago Cubs center fielder Rick Monday stopping an attempted flag burning in Dodger Stadium in 1976.

“That’s when it (the public attitude) began to turn around,” Reid said.

Reid served on the Topeka, a guided missile cruiser in the Mediterranean, “with Russian ships following us around” during the Cold War.

The Vietnam era has left wounds among veterans.

Reid said, “The guy who got the job I wanted came home to Castle Rock in a box.”

He also said his brother, Jerry, who is four years younger than Dennis, was a door gunner in a helicopter and was wounded during his Vietnam service.

“There’s so much passion for the military now,” said Crystal Davis, who serves as a Family Readiness Program coordinator, in support of her husband Dave Davis, a sergeant now in training in Wisconsin for his next deployment to Kuwait.

“Now the local clubs come out with flags in hand. To see families who don’t have military members fly the yellow flags is a huge honor, Davis said.

Davis married Army National Guard Sergeant Dave Davis of Cathlamet, after his active duty career had begun. The couple has three children, ages 5, 12 and 14 years old.

“I didn’t know what the military was about,” she said. “The families suffer as much as the spouse.”