Bella Vista is home to plenty of veterans with a wide variety of experiences.
"Gene Rogers, a judge advocate at American Legion Post 341, said he served during the Vietnam War. He was in the United States Marine Corps from 1962 to 1966 and served on a line outfit -- "ground pounders" was the colloquial term -- during the war, he explained.
Memorial Day was a good opportunity to consider the work veterans have done over the years, he said, and remember those who were lost in conflicts abroad.
"To honor those who sacrificed everything for our freedom," he said.
Rogers said he has late family members who fought in both world wars and the Korean War and he intended to spend some time at the Ford Military Cemetery in Pea Ridge on the holiday.
Robert Clendenen, 95, is part of a group of veterans that meets a few mornings each week at Allen's in Bella Vista.
"This is very therapeutic for us," he explained.
He served in the Navy as a hospital corpsman in the second world war, he said, and participated in the landings at Guam and Okinawa.
He was discharged in January of 1946, he said, and went to school on his G.I. bill to become a dentist. He retired 39 years ago, he said.
Orval Jones joined in May of 1946, shortly after Clendenen left the service and at the close of the war.
He spent two years on an aircraft carrier, dodging planes and watching out for spinning props, but he made it home safe and went on to work on building and modifying aircraft, initially working in Wichita, where he spent 12-hour days modifying planes in the lead-up to the Korean War.
While he didn't see much of World War II, he said, he had two brothers who fought in the battle of the bulge -- one in the 78th Infantry and another in the 10th Armored Division. Following the battle, he said, his brother in the infantry division was sent to Berlin and his brother in the armored division to Italy.
They both survived the war, he said, but didn't live long after it.
"They both came home okay but not good," he explained. "Sleeping in foxholes, getting shot at ... their lifeline wasn't long."
Chatting with these two was Wilson Scott Jr., who often goes by Scottie.
Scottie served in the Vietnam War, he said, after joining the United States Air Force in 1964 straight out of high school.
He made a career of it and served until he retired in 1988.
"That's 23 years, three months, 16 days," he said.
He grew up in Georgia and, along with five other men from his school, signed up for military service in part because there weren't many other options on the table, he said.
"Best decision I could have made back when I was 17," he said.
In Vietnam, he served in the 441st MMS, or Munitions Maintenance Squadron, for six months, then transferred to the 459th Airlift Squadron, which flew C-7a Caribou cargo planes.
He also spent three years in Germany and some time in Norway.
Memorial Day is the ideal opportunity, he said, to recognize veterans' contributions and sacrifices.
Members of the general population don't understand what soldiers go through day in and day out, he said.
Scottie said he'd like to see more compassion for service members and perhaps less judgment.
"The sacrifices that Americans made to secure this country and make it free," he said. "My hat's off to all the guys who served."
General News on 05/29/2019