Honoring Western Illinois veterans

Veterans Day was a full day of recognizing veterans across Western Illinois.

I started out at HyVee visiting with veterans and enjoying a quick breakfast. Thank you HyVee for recognizing our veterans.

I then went to Wal-Mart to visit with veterans and recognize Cindy Unthank the first female Galesburg American Legion Commander. The DAR and Quilts of Valor presented quilts to many veterans. The local Girl Scouts presented hand-made cards for the veterans.

We then drove to Bethell Baptist Church to enjoy a musical tribute to veterans performed by Galesburg Christian School students. Students read letters from deployed soldiers and family members. It was a wonderful program.

It was then off to Knox County Nursing Home to recognize over 20 resident veterans. I presented Certificates and a pin provided by Traditions Health. A representative from Compassus also presented a certificate. Each veteran received a warm quilt from Quilts of Valor.

Then it was off to the Kensington to observe Veteran's Day with 9 veterans and present a certificate. It was great getting caught up with Bill Smith, an Army veteran I served with many years ago.

Our next stop was the Hawthorne Center where I presented 5 veteran certificates and talked to residents.

I visited with Joanne Carlson, Woodhull and the topic was Tank. Joanne loved her dogs. I left several certificates for veterans unable to attend.

I went home changed clothes and headed to the Patton Block, Monmouth, to have supper with Monmouth College President Pat and Jeff Draves, Professor Robin Johnson, Tammy and me. The food and service was great.

Then off to Monmouth Campus where I "MC'd" Monmouth College's Patriotic Tribute to Veterans. The program started with the outstanding Monmouth College band playing several beautiful songs in the Veteran's Memorial Great Room. Instead of having one speaker, I interviewed Bob Goad-Navy, WWII; Nita Cross, Gold Star Mother of SFC Kyle Wherle; Cheri Stanton, Air Force, first Commander, IL American Legion; Ryan Bronaugh-Navy, 2012 Monmouth College grad, service in Iraq, Kosovo, Africa…;Alfonso Mares, Monmouth College student and ROTC Cadet; Joe Switzer-Army, Iraq veteran and Andy Davis-Army, Iraq veteran.

Bob talked about his Navy service as a cook. He said the Navy must have found out he cooked burgers at a local diner in Galesburg, so they made him a cook. He served in the South Pacific where the two greatest threats were kamikaze and submarine attacks. Bob will celebrate his 100th birthday on 20 November. I presented him a House certificate recognizing his 100th birthday. I also presented an Illinois Flag flown over the Capitol complex.

Nita shared her experiences as a Gold Star Mother and providing support to other local Gold Star families.
Ryan shared his experiences as he trained with other countries' special forces. At last count, he has been in over 34 countries.

Alfonso shared he is so excited to be attending school at Monmouth College and looks forward to being commissioned in the Army. He is from Chicago.

Chief Switzer discussed his military experiences and the impact 9/11 had on his life. He was serving in the 2nd BN, 123rd Field Artillery and knew it was only a matter of time before his unit would deploy…somewhere.

Andy Davis was serving on active duty with 2/123 FA. He said on that day several guard members stopped by the unit to discuss their eventual deployment.

Thank you to the awesome panelists for their openness to share their experiences AND to President Draves, for hosting and Robin for helping to put this Salute together.