Adams County Veterans Day Services held at courthouse

By Ashley McCarty

People’s Defender

Adams County Veterans Day Services were held on Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. on the courthouse square in West Union.

The services were held after the Veterans Day parade which began at 10:30 a.m.

“Welcome to the 2021 Adams County Veterans Day Services. We’re going to start a little bit early. Normally, we would start at 11 a.m., because on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, was when the armistice was signed ending World War I. They declared that day Armistice Day in 1938 until 1954 when they changed it to Veterans Day to recognize all veterans of all branches of service across this great land. We would like to welcome each and every one of you this morning. We honor all of our veterans this morning,” said Adams County Veteran Service Commissioner Bill Setty.

After welcoming the attendees, Setty opened the services with a prayer. He invited everyone to bow their heads and remove their caps.

“Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for everything you do. Father, we thank you for this great land that we live in. Lord, we’re just thankful for the many blessings you bestow upon us. We’re thankful for those that have served, who put themselves in harm’s way that we could have this freedom to stand here today, that we could be able to honor each and every one of them who volunteered and those who served to serve this great land and this great nation. We thank you for all of that, and we ask all of these in Jesus’ name,” said Setty.

After prayer, Mark Tolle approached the podium and sang The Star-Spangled Banner. As he sang, the flag, which gallantly hung from the courthouse balcony, danced reverently in the chilly autumn air.

During a short intermission, the Liberty Band performed the Colonel Bogey March. Afterward, Tolle returned to sing “God Bless the U.S.A.”

“Today, our special speaker is retired Command Sgt. Major Larry D. Smalley. He was born and raised in Peebles, Ohio, on Nov. 11, 1948. He attended Peebles Elementary and Peebles High School, where he graduated in 1967. He married Patty Roush in April 1972. They have two daughters, Melinda and Jennifer,” said Setty.

Smalley entered the service in January 1968, where he attended basic training in Ft. Gordon, Ga., and retired in June 1994. During his service, Smalley performed tours in Vietnam as a combat engineer and transportation. He held positions such as squad leader, platoon sergeant, transportation truck master, first sergeant and Sgt. Major.

Smalley was part of the 3rd Infantry Division Transporation Office for NCOIC. He performed two tours of duty in Germany. In 1990, he graduated from the United States Army Sgt. Major Academy, Class #37. From 1992-94, Smalley was Sgt. Major of the United States Army Transportation School at Ft. Ustice, Va.

“By definition, a veteran is somebody who wore a uniform and got an honorable discharge. To me, that’s a generic definition of a veteran. There is more to us than just one little paragraph in a document. To me, a veteran is a person who has served in all branches of service, whether it be Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard — It makes no difference. We are all brothers in arms. Like veterans of all wars, we lived a tad bit, or, we lived a great bit. Closer to death than most people like to think about, those veterans that encountered close combat anywhere at any time were often honored for life by those eyes, those sandals and those electric fears that ran between ourselves and our enemies. There was a likelihood of death for some of us, or, we could get hard, we could get calloused, we could get tough,” said Smalley.

That was all in a day’s work, he said.

“But most of us remember being twitchy, worried and sad. As veterans, we are housewives, grandmothers, church deacons, college professors. We’ve pushed paper, we’ve pushed shovels, we’ve driven jeeps, Humvees, operated bulldozers, built bridges, built roads, we toted weapons through dense brush, or over never-ending mountains. We wore berets, bandanas, floppy hats, steel pots, flat jackets and body armor that weighed almost as much as we did. We got shots constantly, but have diseases nobody can diagnose. We spent our nights on cots, or shivering in foxholes filled with waist-high water, or lying still on cold, wet ground, fearing we would die or fearing we would kill. We simply feared, and often, we still do. A veteran is someone who sacrificed time away from family and friends, sometimes for weeks, months and even years so we can enjoy our freedom. We gave time away from birthdays, the births of our children, anniversaries, holidays and many more events that would take forever to list. When you got alerted, you didn’t know where you were going,” said Smalley.

So, to him, a veteran means more than just a generic statement on a document somewhere, he said.

“To me, it means securing a way of life, defending that way of life and swearing an oath to the greatest document ever written, the Constitution of the United States. Before I close, there’s another group of people I want to recognize. Most of us didn’t go through this by ourselves. We had spouses and we had family. The wives endured the hardships and made sacrifices as much as we did, maybe in a different manner, but they kept our homes together and our meals warm. My wife was my backbone. In closing, I want to thank every veteran for your service,” said Smalley.

The Liberty Band played a medley of songs, honoring the branches of the military with their respective themes. Afterward, the Adams County Honor Guard performed TAPS, the shots blistering the sky as the trumpet echoed out from the courtyard.

“Father, we thank you again for this day. Lord, we are thankful for those who took time out to be able to serve that we could be free today. Father, we are thankful for each and every veteran, every family member that endured the hardships along the way, that we could stand here today. Today is more than the schools being closed, or the banks; it’s a day set aside for those that you, Lord, put your protection around, and kept safe. Father, we thank you for that. Keep us through another year, put a hedge of protection around our service members wherever they may be and their families. We ask all of these favors in Jesus’ name,” said Setty.

In closing, Setty thanked visitors for attending the service, as well as the elected officials, the veteran’s organizations, Liberty Band, Adams County Honor Guard, Boy and Girl Scouts, fire and police departments.

“We want to thank each and every one of you. God bless you, and God bless the U.S.A,” he said.