The American Legion will be celebrating its 100th birthday in 2019. In addition to national and statewide activities commemorating this milestone, American Post 328 of St. Joseph is planning a number of festive and patriotic activities for the community.
One of those special events will be profiles of St. Joseph-area veterans published in each Newsleader during 2019. The Newsleader is joining with Post 328 to recognize veterans and Legion members who served during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other theaters of conflict and Cold War tensions. Veteran and Legion member Tom Klecker is interviewing veterans for the stories.
Klecker wrote this introduction to explain why these profiles of local veterans are important.
“Hopefully these articles will engender a renewed sense of appreciation for the sacrifices made. Veterans represent a diminishing number of all citizens; at present only about 5-6 percent of the population are veterans.
Citizens should know the two important factors the military experience demands.
Most all who enter the military, (be it by enlistment or drafted) usually do so during a critical period of physical, moral and psychological development.
Most are transitioning from the self-centeredness of adolescence to an environment that demands obedience to authority, self-discipline and a responsibility for others.
Most veterans report the discipline imposed in the military was beneficial in their transition from youth into more adult personality traits and behaviors.
Secondly, to use the metaphor of a football team, everyone in the military has an assigned job and duty. Others depend on you to carry out your responsibilities.
The running back will gain no yardage unless the unsung heroes on the line make a hole to run through. The aircraft does not fly and carry out the mission if the ground crew did not do its job. The ship does not reach its assigned destination and thus carry out the mission if sailors deep in the bowels of the hot and noisy engine room did not do their jobs.
Some veterans had a choice as to their military occupational specialty, others were assigned as needed.
It cannot be overstated: every veteran, regardless of service branch, well knows that the success of the mission requires a team effort. It is expected that you give it your best.
Regardless of the particular branch of service, the location assigned at a point in time, every man and woman who served can take pride in the part they played in the defense of this country.
While every citizen can rightfully challenge the wisdom of our elected politicians as to decisions made about military involvements, past and present, the veteran now and the soldier then did not seek to be placed in harms way.
Just think for a moment as to the adjustments required of a 19-year-old from St. Joseph. Upon induction into the military there is the loss of substantial freedom, little privacy, diminished individuality and association with others that you are not familiar with, about places you may have never heard of before and being called upon to do things you never considered previously. Talk about being forced out of your comfort zone.
Most all of the veterans profiled in the upcoming articles are your neighbors and friends. They have chosen to tell their stories not out of any self-promotional notoriety or fame. Rather they all believe the military experience, be it filled with terror, boredom, adventure, friendships, loneliness, fear, elation or pride. Service had a significant influence on how they made choices throughout their lives.
The military is certainly not for everyone. It is just one of a number of ways individuals plot a course through life. A course that reflects their values, traditions and their sense of obligation to self and others.
Veterans, particularly the older ones, may well in their private reflections share the following:
I’m not all that lean and mean a fighting machine as in youth I once was. Now I’m shorter, weaker, slower, arthritic, balding and my hearing is going. But there was once a time, as God was my witness, there was a time I was a part of something so much more than just myself. A cause for something that has or likely will be debated in the dusty books of history. That being said I will always hold close to my heart the memories of sacrifices endured by myself and others, and how that time likely changed me forever.”
