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A Veteran’s Day celebration was held at Dodson Schools last Thursday afternoon, featuring speeches and music honoring the men and women who have served the United States through their military service.

Thursday’s celebration started with Dodson students Junior Stiffarm, Shaylee Decelles and Kataya Flansburg singing the National Anthem, the elementary students singing America the Beautiful and concluded with Ms. Kayla Messerly’s high school music class playing Taps on their flutes. In-between the musical interludes, the day featured current Dodson Mayor Teresa Cole, former Dodson Mayor and PCN Correspondent Eldora Henry, former National Guardsmen Edward Solberg and Dodson School Guidance Counselor and former US Marine Mr. John K. Weekly each giving speeches about themselves or people in their families who have served in US Military Branches.

Mayor Cole said that she and her husband, Wink, have a total of 11 children — four sons and seven daughters — and said that all of their sons have served in the military. Matt Cole served in Korea and Steve Cole served in Iraq during the Operation Desert Storm (he spent his 18th birthday in USMC boot camp.)

“It was terrifying for us parents back here, it was very scary,” Mayor Cole said. “I waited every day for a car to pull up to tell us bad news, but, thankfully, that never happened."

Cole said Jeff Cole served in the Army during Desert Storm and was deployed at the same time as Matt and the youngest son, Zach, graduated from Dodson High School in 2001 and served in the U.S. Army starting in 2003. Mayor Cole read a letter Zach had written for the day’s event to talk about his time in the army including deployment to Iraq in 2005. Zach Cole was a sergeant in the Army by this time and recalled the first time he took-on indirect fire.

“It brought everything back to reality,” Cole read. “Although it was still an exciting trip, walking around on high alert all the time will begin to wear on you after a while.”

Mayor Cole said Zach deployed four different times during his time in the Army and eventually became a Warrant Officer. Aside from Cole’s sons, Mayor Cole also said that two of her granddaughters also served in Military during wartime.

"One thing I would like to say about when my boys were there is how wonderful the people of Phillips County was when they were away," Mayor Cole said.

Solberg was the second speaker of the day and he harkened back to the days when Veteran’s Day was known as “Armistice Day” and talked about being in National Guard boot camp the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Solberg said that a few of the enjoyable times he remembers from his service days where the USO shows and days on which mail arrived for the soldiers.

“Mail call was most enjoyable and I wasn’t fortunate enough to get many letters, but some people didn’t get any,” he said. “If you know somebody in the service, write them letters, they will enjoy them.”

Henry was the third speaker of the afternoon and said that she didn’t know her husband, James, during World War II as the couple wouldn’t marry until he had been discharged, adding that he turned 18 during the war as a member of the USMC’s 5th Division who fought on and secured the island of Iwo Jima, a battle which lasted a total of 36 days.

“The Navy evacuated a total of 13,737 wounded men from Iwo,” Henry said. “My husband was there for the entire 36 days and fought in the third wave of troops …his brother Jack was a tail-gunner in the planes above Iwo and approximately 6,849 Americans were killed taking the island.”

James passed away in 2010 at the age of 83 and after his military service went on to become a butcher, a cowboy and a mill operator.

Mr. Weekly is in his second year as Guidance Counselor at Dodson School. He talked about the term "fallen hero."

"In the Bible, Jesus said that 'there is no greater love then for someone to lay their life down for a friend'," Weekly said. "That is very close to my heart."

Weekly was a member of the USMC's 46th Special Forces Group in Vietnam and one day he and other members of the 46th were in the field and he was the lead man. He said a sniper shot at the group and as he turned the bullet went beneath his arm and killed the Marine behind him. Weekly said that he escorted the dead Marine back to the United States.

"Do you see why I always stand for the National Anthem?," Weekly asked. "Do you see why I always put my hand over my heart during the National Anthem?"

Weekly said the man who was shot on that day was an "American hero."

"Ladies and gentleman, is there anything better than having a good team?" Weekly asked. "When you are in the military, and when you are in combat, there is nothing closer than your buddy beside you. Nothing. And my buddy took a round that was supposed to be for me."

 

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