USU honors veterans on their day
John Kimball, a senior at Utah State University, told those present at Thursday’s Veterans Day Ceremony that he is serving in the military because “it is the right thing to do. The best thing you can do to honor what someone else has done is to follow in their footsteps.”
Kimball was accompanied by vocal performances from local schools, a routine by USU’s Swing Club, and remarks from Iwo Jima survivor Loyd Lewis. Kyle Boes, the Veterans Day ceremony committee chairman and a veteran of the United States Air Force said the goal of the program was to remind everyone of the stories and sacrifices of the veterans.
There are 300-400 veterans on campus, Boes said, and many of them experienced the horrors of war firsthand. Dallas Nutt, a Marine Corps Combat Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom who now studies geology at Utah State, said, “I was (in Iraq) for about six months and was chosen to be a squad leader. As a result, I picked up Lance Corporal meritoriously and got sent to the second Battalion seventh Marines in Twenty-nine Palms, the most dreaded Marine Corps base in the nation.”
Nutt was stationed with his unit for one month until he was deployed to the Al Anbar Province of Iraq where roadside bombs were prevalent. He said they would receive small arms fire, mortars, rockets and the occasional mine, which would often destroy the armor of their vehicles.
Then deployed to Fallujah, Nutt and his squad faced the danger of “ghost-like” insurgents and the discomfort of military life.
“We didn’t get holidays, we slept on horrible cots, we lost some of our closest friends and we did it knowing that the next day we could die. I don’t think anyone in America other than veterans can say that,” Nutt said.
Lewis, who touched on his experiences during the ceremony, spent five days on Iwo Jima and was one of five in a company of around 250 men who made it out alive. He survived a deadly mortar round and leapt on an enemy grenade to save seven of his fellow marines. He stood on a foothill where he saw the infamous flag raised over Iwo Jima, and he found the remains of his best friend, his brother Boyd, after a World War II-era mortar landed in a foxhole they shared.
“I saw life and death,” he said with tears in his eyes. But he later said, “I am proud to wear this uniform.”
Dave Brown is an employee of the Readjustment Counseling division of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, which counsels veterans and their families for free. He said many times they see veterans with severe post-traumatic stress disorder due to the impact of war. Many experience sexual trauma, grief and bereavement, a heightened sense of insecurity, dementia, substance abuse, loss of a job or of solid familial relationships, and other physiological and physical disabilities.
“We live in a world where we’re going to need a military,” he said. “Regrettably, they have to go through hardships to serve our country. That needs to be recognized.”
Nutt said, “I completed my mission. None of my Marines were killed. I had one almost lose a foot, and my best friend got hit from an IED at very close range that nearly killed him, left him without both his pinky fingers, scars all over his body, nerve damage, and post-traumatic stress disorder but he isn’t bitter. He and everyone else would proudly do it again if we had to. That’s what Marines do, we fight so the unwilling and afraid don’t have to.”
Veterans Day should be a day when everyone remembers the sacrifices of the veterans, Boes said, and they should also appreciate the freedoms that come from living in America.
Fingering the American flag and expressing his love of country with tears flowing down his face, Lewis said, “This Old Glory means the world to me. I love this old girl.”
– ariwrees@gmail.com