The presence of those remembered is visible to all who walk around the Summers County seat this Veterans Day. Banners of loved ones are on full display around Hinton from Temple, Ballengee and Summers streets and 2nd and 3rd avenues. In all, 75 banners have been hung proudly from streetlights bearing familiar family names, and faces resembling those you may know in the community.
Veterans Memorial Museum President Tim Wheeler, with friends Hazel Vukovich and Rebecca Peterson at Summers County Convention and Visitor Center, have memorialized armed services veterans with family-sponsored personal banners to raise awareness and remembrance of their service to our country this Veterans Day and throughout November. “It’s our way of thanking all veterans,” said Wheeler. “The banners were first presented the month of May for Memorial Day.”
Wheeler also invites everyone to take a peek into the lives of veterans from all wars by visiting the Veterans Memorial Museum on Ballengee Street. Call the Visitors Center at Temple Street and 2nd Avenue for an appointment to tour the museum. New veteran banners for 2021 can be sponsored by contacting Wheeler through the museum or his friends Hazel and Rebecca.
Few, if any, Veterans Day activities are scheduled this year because of the risks associated with COVID-19, but there are a multitude of ways to say thanks to veterans. Some people read and recite poems, prayers, share stories they have been told, sing songs, play music, spend quality time with a veteran or simply say “thank you.”
On Veterans Day, this writer would like to share something found on the internet, while browsing the web in search of the history of Armistice Day — November 11, 1918, I came upon this Veterans Day wish from an artillery officer in Vietnam during the late 1960s. Jim Jones of Boise, is an Army Commendation Medal recipient, former Idaho attorney general and served as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court. In an editorial this past week in the Idaho State Journal, he offered these thoughts: “At this time in our history, we are more divided than at any time since WWII — with the possible exception of Vietnam. From the standpoint of one of the millions who have served in the nation’s armed forces, what I would most like to see is a nation at peace with itself, much like the nation that returning WWII veterans found. If those who serve the country can work together in common purpose to fight an enemy on foreign soil, can’t veterans expect their countrymen to work harder to achieve unity on the home front? Please have a thoughtful day of reflection this Veterans Day and be sure to thank our veterans for their service.”
