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Capt. George Johnson has a special connection to Veterans Day. Yes, he is a captain in the Pittsburg State University ROTC, and yes, he is an instructor of military science at the school as well, but it goes deeper than that.
His great, great, great, great, great grandfather was involved in the Lewis and Clark expedition. His great uncle was a tanker in World War II. His grandmother served as a Navy nurse, where she met the man who would become Johnson’s grandfather, a Marine who had been injured in the battle of Guadalcanal. And Johnson’s father served in Vietnam.
So when Johnson spoke at the PSU Veterans Day service at the PSU Veterans Memorial, there was a degree of significance involved.
“In that amphitheater, I consider myself one of the lesser ones,” Johnson said. “Veterans who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam saw horrific things. The World War II guys lost three to four years away from home. Some of them were gone for four straight years. They made a tremendous sacrifice. I can’t imagine what they went through. It’s humbling for me.”
Johnson was one of several who spoke at the PSU service on Wednesday in the shadow of a quote from Shakespeare’s Henry V inscribed on the Veterans Memorial: “For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”
The honored speaker of the service was Dr. Ron Seglie, who served as the commander of the 410th Evacuation Hospital during Operation Desert Storm for eight months in northern Saudi Arabia, among other assignments in his career.
Seglie’s speech included literary references from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade,” as well as a reading from “What is a Veteran?”
“Freedom isn’t free. There is always to price to pay,” Seglie said. “For us, that price is always paid in blood. As you look around, you see the old guys and what they went through for four or five years without their families, you have to honor that.”
Seglie also noted in his speech that the celebration of Veterans Day has many connections to this state. Although the holiday started as a celebration of the armistice ending World War I, the celebration expanded in 1953 after Emporia began honoring all veterans on the day, not just WWI veterans. By the next May, Kansas native Dwight Eisenhower signed a law that the day would honor all veterans rather than just WWI veterans.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
Capt. George Johnson has a special connection to Veterans Day. Yes, he is a captain in the Pittsburg State University ROTC, and yes, he is an instructor of military science at the school as well, but it goes deeper than that.
His great, great, great, great, great grandfather was involved in the Lewis and Clark expedition. His great uncle was a tanker in World War II. His grandmother served as a Navy nurse, where she met the man who would become Johnson’s grandfather, a Marine who had been injured in the battle of Guadalcanal. And Johnson’s father served in Vietnam.
So when Johnson spoke at the PSU Veterans Day service at the PSU Veterans Memorial, there was a degree of significance involved.
“In that amphitheater, I consider myself one of the lesser ones,” Johnson said. “Veterans who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam saw horrific things. The World War II guys lost three to four years away from home. Some of them were gone for four straight years. They made a tremendous sacrifice. I can’t imagine what they went through. It’s humbling for me.”
Johnson was one of several who spoke at the PSU service on Wednesday in the shadow of a quote from Shakespeare’s Henry V inscribed on the Veterans Memorial: “For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”
The honored speaker of the service was Dr. Ron Seglie, who served as the commander of the 410th Evacuation Hospital during Operation Desert Storm for eight months in northern Saudi Arabia, among other assignments in his career.
Seglie’s speech included literary references from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade,” as well as a reading from “What is a Veteran?”
“Freedom isn’t free. There is always to price to pay,” Seglie said. “For us, that price is always paid in blood. As you look around, you see the old guys and what they went through for four or five years without their families, you have to honor that.”
Seglie also noted in his speech that the celebration of Veterans Day has many connections to this state. Although the holiday started as a celebration of the armistice ending World War I, the celebration expanded in 1953 after Emporia began honoring all veterans on the day, not just WWI veterans. By the next May, Kansas native Dwight Eisenhower signed a law that the day would honor all veterans rather than just WWI veterans.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
