Honoring A Hero

[Don Wittenberger]

I know we have some veterans in our fishing community, and all of you are very supportive of our veterans. I had the special honor last month of being invited to Knoxville by the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association ETVMA) to be the speaker at their annual fundraising dinner for Knoxville's war memorial. This year's event honored Sergeant Mitchell Stout, east Tennessee's only Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War. Sergeant Stout was 20 years old when he sacrificed himself to save 4 members of his squad from an enemy grenade. ETVMA invited me to speak at their dinner because I was a member of Sergeant Stout's unit at the time. I spent a week in Knoxville, and while there, was a house guest of retired Army Colonel Joe Alexander. As a young platoon leader in the 1968 Tet Offensive, Joe was ordered to lead his men across an open rice paddy against Viet Cong positions. Nine of his men were killed and Joe himself was wounded 4 times that day. This trip was a very special experience for me. These men needed extraordinary character to do what they did. Where does this come from? Parents, teachers, and communities. It's easy to get so busy in our lives that we forget our veterans. Next time you're fishing, pause for a moment, and think about what they did for us. We have another generation of veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's our obligation and duty to honor their service. See you on the water.

[Rosann G]

Thank you to all our veterans from all through the years and their families. We appreciate all those that went into conflicts, those that supported them around the world and all those that have been in the military during peacetime too.
Bless you all.