By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
November 14, 2007

Former Army Capt. Will Carey read from two poems at Sunday’s Veterans Day ceremony to highlight his message that American freedoms are owed to those in past and present military service.

“He (a veteran) is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being — a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs,” read Carey from “What is a Vet?” by the late Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, a Marine Corps sergeant.

“…I thought about a graveyard, at the bottom of the sea, of unmarked graves in Arlington; no, freedom isn’t free,” he quoted from the writing of Air Force Cadet Major Kelly Strong.

Carey was the keynote speaker for the Nov. 11 observance at the Hood River Armory. The decorated veteran was critically wounded in the Tet Offensive of 1968. He said the Vietnam conflict — which the U.S. was involved in for 18 years — should have taught citizens two key lessons:

• If America sends its young people to battle; the military should determine how to fight that war and not the politicians.

• Anti-war activists should not take out their feelings of opposition on the warrior.

“Those of us who served in Vietnam really didn’t have political views; we were just doing our job,” said Carey.

“Soldiers who are injured physically and emotionally in war need to be surrounded by support from their community.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who makes his home in Hood River, said Congress had a duty to fund and support the nation’s warriors. He recently co-sponsored a bill to increase the level of spending for veteran health care and benefits.

House Resolution 4014 includes $37.2 billion for research into conditions such as Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, among the most common problems facing new veterans.

“We must take care of our veterans when they return from Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere else in the world,” said Walden.

“We recognize that it is because of their great valor and courage that we are able to live in freedom today.”

He then adapted a saying used frequently by Marines so that it also applied to soldiers, sailors and airmen.

“If you’ve worn the nation’s uniform you don’t have to worry if you’ve made a difference. You have. God bless our troops and veterans,” said Walden.

The patriotic ceremony included the singing of the national anthem by Anita Decker, a rifle salute from members of the Army National Guard and echo taps performed by trumpeters Kate Brownback and Matt Winkle, a senior at Hood River Valley High School.

Each veteran was applauded after standing while the fight song from his/her branch of the military was played.

Master of Ceremonies Dennis Leonard, an Army veteran, closed the program by urging the 80-member audience to “think about the veteran every day of the year and not just on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.”