Posted 9:12 am Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Hawkins Veterans Memorial Honors 1,000 Area Veterans
By LAUREN GROVER
Staff Writer
HAWKINS – Soldiers should be honored, no matter the war or what folks think of the war, says veteran Lt. Col. Herman Peace, a resident of this little town who helped erect a beautiful memorial that’s hard to ignore.
Staff Writer
HAWKINS – Soldiers should be honored, no matter the war or what folks think of the war, says veteran Lt. Col. Herman Peace, a resident of this little town who helped erect a beautiful memorial that’s hard to ignore.
The Greater Hawkins Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 2000 and now bears names of some 1,000 military men and women from Hawkins or Holly Lake. About $100,000 has been raised to dedicate it, add new names to the plaques, maintain the grounds and erect an AH-1 Cobra Gunship helicopter over the pond.
Lt. Col. Peace, who flew 35 missions on B-17s in World War II and the Korean War, said it’s the least the town can do.
“People don’t realize how valuable freedom is — it’s everything,” he said Thursday. “We get up every in the morning and realize we’re way ahead of the rest of the world.”
Plaques on the memorial wall list all wars since the Civil War during which Americans fought, and those honored include U.S. Maritime Service members during World War II who were just recently acknowledged by Congress, Peace said.
“Their part in the war was tremendous, and their losses, some were greater than ours,” Peace said, a retired Air Force pilot.
Retired Col. Jeanette Sterner of the Texas National Guard did the legwork for the Cobra helicopter to be brought from New York to Hawkins and re-assembled by local Marine veteran and vintage aircraft mechanic Bob Schneider of Hawkins.
To top off his good work, Schneider placed a “Marines” emblem on the side of the Cobra that was flown by Air Force pilots, Peace said, a typical show of military rivalry.
“He don’t know why the rest of us were necessary,” Peace joked.
It takes between $7,000 to $10,000 to maintain the memorial each year, and Col. Sterner rallies community members to raise that money, proud that their landmark is sustained by locals.
“A lot of veterans live in this area,” she said. “And I’ve had people tell me they can’t help but stop when they see this.”
With its visible location on a wide curve on Highway 14 just north of downtown Hawkins, the Cobra helicopter is mounted as if it’s swooping in for a landing over the water, an eye-catching site for any passersby.
Cobras were used in the late years of Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, and by the Marines in the invasion of Grenada, Schneider told the Tyler Paper in 2005, and are still used today in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. Peace said he wants every single veteran to feel the honor and gratitude that he felt after returning from World War II – that their treatment shouldn’t vary war to war.
“The welcome we got was beyond words,” he said. “But during Korea, people would spit on airmen, called them baby killers. I wasn’t too proud to be a part of this country at that time.”
Col. Sterner said the current war will be looked upon more favorably in retrospect, as many have been, and it’s difficult for people to appreciate what’s being done as it’s happening. Her family descends from Czechos-lovakia where oppression was rampant.
“If you’ve not been through oppression, you don’t truly understand what freedom means,” she said.
Lt. Col. Peace agreed, recalling his time of service in Russia.
“People there worked four hours extra just to have one hour at church,” he said, shaking his head. “And they were poor, and already worked hard. Yes, we live in a good country.”
Veterans are gathering at the Hawkins memorial today at 2 p.m. to induct 17 people onto the plaque with a proper ceremony including a veterans’ story and the playing of taps by a local high school student.
