Veterans day at the fair made me reflect
By George Starks 

Attending memorial services isn’t exactly my cup of tea. For only the second time in my life, I attended the Veterans Day service at the fair this year. I don’t know why I went but something told me to go. I’m glad I did. 

I don’t know who the speaker was but he said some things that made me think. When someone sets my wheels in motion, I tend to speak my mind and that doesn’t happen very often. It did on this day. 

When I joined the United States Navy in 1975, I was joining for two reasons. First, it was an easy way to get out of Hollansburg and Darke County for at least four years. Second, I wanted to go to college and this was the easy way to do that in the future. 

If that sounds selfish, it is. I was 17 when I joined and a senior in high school. What more needs to be said. I was selfish. 

Little did I know. Two weeks after graduation, I was off to the Great Lakes Training Base in Chicago, Illinois and starting my adventure. 

I was in the real world. Hollansburg wasn’t close to that. Chicago was! 

After boot, I went to the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy CV-67, an aircraft carrier. After three and a half years, I transferred to the Naval air station in Corpus Christi, Texas and was there for nearly three years. 

It was peacetime, no war. 

As I went through the fairgrounds, I had several people thank me for serving on this day. 

A lot has happened since my time in the Navy. Most notable, 9-11 and what’s going on in the Middle East. 

The speaker at the service spoke of many things but one thing he said stood out to me. 

“All gave some while some gave all.” 

WOW! 

I never thought at the age of 17, those words would have such an impact on me. 

I thought about the loss of life over the years. The attack on my country that I served and the ones that are serving over seas now to protect not only me but all of us. I thought about a guy from Ansonia named Daniel Thornhill who has lost both his legs because of this war we are in now. 

I thought about another guy from Greenville, Freddy Myers, who nearly lost his life a few years ago. 

All of this brought tears to my eyes. 

Two real American hero‘s. 

Then I went to the veterans center on the fairgrounds and saw the display that was set up in honor of a man from Rossburg who received the Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam. 

Another American Hero. 

One thing the speaker pointed out was this. 

“It’s not the journalist that gave us freedom of the press but the veteran. It’s the veteran that gives us Freedom of Speech. It’s the veteran that has protected all our freedoms.” 

Don’t take our freedoms for granted. 

God gave us those freedoms. A veteran protected them. 

Thank God first, then thank a veteran. 

In that order, please.