“On the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour,” said David Applewhite as he spoke to the crowd of guests and veteran residents at Arabella of Longview Friday, “the guns fell silent and that began Veterans Day.”
Applewhite, who served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War, joined veteran residents and other guests as they honored military veterans of the United States Armed Forces with a ceremony at Arabella of Longview, a senior living community.
According to Arabella executive director Jeremy Burris, the facility is home to almost fifty veterans and he said the Veterans Day program means a great deal to their veteran residents.
“They are very service minded, they take care of each other and they take care of a lot of things here in our community,” said Burris of the veterans. “They’re a great bunch to work with and an honor to help care for.”
During the program, that included a meal, patriotic music and cake, special recognition was given to the highest ranking resident. Robyn Kay who retired from the US Navy at the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer was greeted by a line of saluting veterans and presented with a sculpture of an eagle.
Jay Lindsay, Vice President of Operations for LifeCare Health Services and other representatives of the local home health and hospice care company shook hands with and thanked the veterans in attendance for their service as they presented them with certificates of honor.
“Seeing their faces light up brings joy to my heart and that’s what we’re all about,” said Lindsay as he prepared to leave to visit another senior care center. Lindsay said the company wanted to honor the veterans in all local facilities and planned to visit 13 locations throughout the day.
“If you ask what Veterans Day means the only answer I can give is nothing I can vocalize,” said Applewhite, “It’s something in your heart, soul and mind that your are thankful that you were fit enough and lucky enough to have served and come back alive when so many of our friends that didn’t. The small town of Kilgore has six names on the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C. of boys that I went to high school with that didn’t make it back. And, sometimes, that’s a hard pill to swallow.”