Calling all veterans

Above, Cindy Ashley-Photo taken by Bobbie Foust

Soon after school opens Friday, Lyon fourth graders will transform their gymnasium into a red, white and blue haven. There students and their teachers will receive dozens of seasoned warriors from here and surrounding counties at their 10th anniversary Veterans Appreciation Luncheon and Patriotic Program. Serving begins at 11:30 a.m.
Among the old warriors will be Dale Hawkins of Paducah who attends every year with a contingent of his buddies.
Hawkins — a Purple Heart winner who still carries shrapnel in his neck from a 1953 battle on Pork Chop Hill in Korea — said his daughter began her teaching career in Lyon County. He served with the U.S. Army in Korea from 1952 to ‘53.
“We lost several men there,” Hawkins said, noting that in the battle, a round came into his position, and of the four soldiers there, he was the only one to survive. It’s emotional for him to recall the loss of his buddies in that bloody battle.
Hawkins was in battle within 24 hours after arriving in Korea. He’s been told the Gen. Mark Clark ordered his forces to “hold the Triangle Hills at all costs,” and the costs were high. “We had 60 men, and only 20 made it out” without either being wounded or killed. Hawkins was one of the lucky ones in that operation. “I give God the credit for that,” he said. “It was an intense battle. ... I lost one of my best buddies.
“I appreciate all the concern you have up there (at Lyon Elementary) for veterans,” he said. ‘It gives us a lot of pride.”
Buddy Smith, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said he has attended all 10 of the programs here.
He always brings a pocketful of steel pennies, which he distributes to the students and explains that the steel pennies were issued only one year — 1943 because all the copper was being used in the war effort against Germany and Japan. He said Charlie Hoskins, also a veteran and owner of Hoskins Coins & Jewelry, provides the coins.
Smith, and all but one of his male classmates at Reidland High School joined the military immediately upon graduation in 1951. He served until 1955 in Germany and Austria in radio operations special service. His specific duties are still classified.
He said he feels great about his service to his country. His older brother also joined the Air Force and two other brothers were drafted, he said.
Smith thinks a stint in the military would be good for today’s youth.
“I still say the military is best for young people,” he said. “The military gives you a lot of quick experience; it gets you started in life. It creates discipline, maturity and patriotism.”
Cindy Ashley, 46, of Lyon County, an Air Force veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, is the mother of a fourth grader. So she has a special reason to attend this year’s luncheon and program.
Ashley served in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia with an F-16 avionics group.
“I worked on the instrumentation on the fighter,” she said. (The F-16 is a single engine fighter aircraft.) “One thing about the Air Force, you can be a ways away from what’s going on. Pilots are the ones who actually fly into the (war) zone and come back.”
Ashley worked on radios and instrumentation. “I was an instrument tech,” she said.
Ashley spent 13 years in the Air Force.
She’s been trying to find her uniform to wear to the luncheon because she said her daughter “is really proud that I’m a veteran.”
She called the program a special thing and said the students learn a great deal from it. “I think it helps the children of today learn the purpose of the military and how much the people who go into the military sacrifice and are willing to sacrifice.”