LaRue Cooke would remind us of the significance of every man and woman who has worn a military uniform in service to this country at this year’s Blue Star Memorial Veterans Day ceremony.
You will find their footprints from Flanders Fields, Anzio, Normandy, Pearl Harbor, the South Korean peninsula, South Vietnam, Laos, Hanoi, Iran, Iraq, the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.
“There are not enough words to express our thankfulness for the sacrifice you make or have made each day to ensure that the people of this nation may know peace, comfort and freedom,” said Cooke, president of the host Cross Creek-Briarwood Garden Club, at Freedom Memorial Park in downtown Fayetteville. “We thank them for their unwavering dedication and commitment to defending our country.”
Veterans were among about 100 in the audience at Monday’s event, including Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Keefe Jensen, Fayetteville City Council members Mario Benavente and Derrick Thompson, Cumberland County Commissioner Jimmy Keefe, and Dan Dederick, civilian aide to the Army for North Carolina.
A hero among heroes
Retired city historian and commander of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Bruce Daws was the keynote speaker, and Daws reminded us of the words of Gen. (Ret.) Hugh Shelton, the North Carolina native and Army veteran who served as chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997-2001 under President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush.
“Hugh Shelton said it best,” Daws, 74, said. “They never let us down.’
He reminded us of veterans like Corp. Rodolfo “Rudy” Hernandez, who was awarded the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery on May 31, 1951, when Hernandez was wounded but refused to leave his fellow soldiers on Hill 420 near Wonton-ni during the Korean War.
“Rudy elected not to back off,” Daws said, as Hernandez’s unit retook Hill 420. “They thought Rudy was dead and were putting him in a body bag when they noticed his fingers moving.”
Hernandez was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on April 12, 1952, by then-President Harry S. Truman at the White House Rose Garden. Hernandez called Fayetteville home. He died at age 82 on Dec. 21, 2013. Hernandez is buried at Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake.
“Our veterans have suffered greatly during many wars,” said Daws, who served on Fort Liberty, then known as Fort Bragg, from 1972 to 1976. “Our community has soldiers who have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Some came back disfigured. Some without limbs. Pray with me as we remember them.”
Daws reminded us of Freedom Memorial Park, the Airborne & Special Operations Museum across Bragg Boulevard, and N.C. Veterans Park nearby — a testament to every veteran including in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Space Guard.
He thought back to veterans like Rodolfo “Rudy” Hernandez.
“The heroes are too many to talk about here,” said Daws, who was honored with a proclamation from the city and a plaque and pin from the Col. Robert Rowan Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Garden club members later laid a wreath on the refurbished Blue Star Memorial Highway marker that was placed at Freedom Memorial Park on March 22, 2005. The marker was first dedicated on March 3, 1956, along U.S. 301 North, and moved in 1977 to the old Fayetteville Fire Station downtown on Person Street before garden club members, led by the late Elaine Nunnery, restored and placed it at Freedom Memorial Park. Today, the Blue Star Memorial Highway marker stands alongside the Gold Star Memorial on Hay Street.
“Last May, our club decided to put up the Gold Star Memorial,” garden club member Sybil West said. “So, it became our mission to refurbish the Blue Star Memorial Highway marker.”
Other club members are Kathy Allen, Gerri Arrowood, Charlotte Baker, Debbie Browning, Kris Caison, Carolyn Carter, Sarah Faison, Diane Guidone, Louis Hall, Faye Highsmith, Eve Holden, Loyce Lipe, Debi Long, Teresa Johnson, Penny Maxwell, Connie Michaels, Debbie Nepstad, Ginna Pugh, Carla Richardson, Shelton Shearon, Irma Smith, Kristin Smith, Polly Strickland, Linda Williams and LaRue Cooke.
Epilogue
Cooke would look out into the faces of those who came to honor all military veterans on this day, many who served on Fort Liberty.
“May no soldier go unloved,” said Cooke, whose late father served at Pearl Harbor when attacked by Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941. “May no soldier walk alone. And may no soldier be forgotten, even after they have come home. Today, we honor those who fought for our country and the ones who fought for our souls.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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