Sean C. Morgan
Local veterans groups paid tribute to veterans and local police officers and firefighters Friday night at their annual Veteran’s Day dinner.
Receiving special recognition were Sweet Home police officers John Trahan and Tim Trahan, Sweet Home volunteer firefighters Amanda Black and Ryan Trask; and Linn County deputies Brandon Gange and Joe Martin.
The organizations also recognized the Sons of the AmVets and their president Dennis Lindsay and John and Chris Emma for their volunteer work.
The veterans recognized David Zook for 30 years of service to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and John Wacek for 40 years of service to the VFW.
The Sons of the AmVets prepared the dinner, held at the VFW Hall.
Director of the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs Jim Willis was guest speaker.
Willis is a retired police officer and veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He was appointed to his position by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a veteran of the Marine Corps.
Kulongoski is the first veteran in the statehouse in 28 years, Willis said, and he’s the only former Marine serving as governor in the United States right now.
“I remind him it is not my fault he wasn’t able to get into the U.S. Air Force,” Willis joked after greeting veterans and guests.
“Those of us who are honored to serve veterans every day have a motto: Every day is Veteran’s Day,” Willis said. Most importantly, that motto is part of the spirit of everyone who serves in his department.
Willis also gave a nod to the police officers and firefighters present.
He served for 32 years with the Oregon State Police and retired as a major.
When he was a young officer, emergency workers didn’t have cell phones, pagers and other modern gadgets. They had radios, but to make a phone call, they would stop at fire stations scattered around the countryside.
“Over the years, I made friends with a lot of firefighters,” Willis said. He had a discussion with one firefighter friend about his job.
“I told him, you people who are in the fire service are crazy,” Willis said. Those people may be asleep at the fire station or at home. When the alarm goes off at 3 a.m., “they’re coming out of a dead sleep to full alert.”
In minutes, they’re to a fire, Willis said. “Then when you get to those places that are on fire, you run inside.”
The firefighter responded that at 3 a.m. a police officer is alone pulling over a car full of people. The officer has no idea what he may face when he walks up to the car.
“He said, ‘You think I’m crazy?'” Willis said.
History shows there are those who will always be there to try to deny freedom, Willis said. They will “stop at nothing to deprive individuals around the world of their liberty.”
The United States has taken an active role at least seven times since the end of World War I to stop those kinds of people, Willis said. Those returning from those actions “asked only that they could get on with their lives.”
Those who know the sting of close combat know that war “is the failure of reason,” Willis said. “The relatively short history of the United States has shown that while we Americans are not quick to fight, we will fight with a skill that is as brave and tenacious as any military in history.”
The benefits provided to those veterans are freely given by the citizens of a grateful nation, Willis said. Those benefits should never be lost. When those benefits are threatened, Willis urged those gathered to make phone calls, write emails and write letters to their legislators and newspapers.
“My job and that of others who work for veterans and their families is to let you know what’s going on,” Willis said. He pledged to continue that work in the future.
“We owe our country’s very existence and the freedom it guarantees to our veterans,” Willis said, “even the freedom to not be a veteran.”
He asked that everyone remember U.S. veterans.
As long as the people of the United States continue to support and honor their veterans, he said, it will continue to be a great nation.
“I thank everyone of you for your service to this state and this nation,” Willis said.