Local heroes honored during annual Veterans Day Dinner
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The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley
Elkins American Legion Post 29 Commander Rick Hinchman speaks to those in attendance and guest speaker Tom Hansen during the 101st Veteran's Day Dinner at Calain Hall Saturday night.
ELKINS -- All branches of the United States Military were honored Saturday night as the American Legion Post 29 hosted its annual Veterans Day Dinner at Calain Hall.
It was the 101st such event held by the Elkins American Legion, and the guest speaker was Tom Hansen, who is the Vice Commander of the American Legion Department of West Virginia for Districts 3, 9 and 10.
Hansen served in the United States Army and started his military career during the Cold War in 1976. After 11 years of active duty he spent three years in the Army Reserve. He moved to West Virginia in 1995 and joined the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, where he spent the next 20 years. In 1996 he enlisted in the West Virginia Air National Guard and served for 17 years before retiring as a Master Sergeant.
With 31 years of military service and 20 years of law enforcement under his belt, Hansen thought his days of wearing a uniform were over after he retired from the Sheriff's Department. But that all changed within the past two weeks, as he was elected as the new sheriff of Jefferson County.
Hansen, who is Commander of Post 71 in Charles Town, recited part of the war poem "Flanders Field" during his speech and went on to speak of the importance of our armed forces today.
"Our military is an honorable institution and as such our veterans are honorable men and women," he said. "If there is a natural disaster anywhere in the world, look up and the United States Military is there. There are C-17's landing providing medevac services or food to the hungry. Boots on the ground providing security and protection to defenseless civilians or an aircraft carrier docking to provide fresh water and hospital care. We are there and we will continue to be there for the betterment of the world."
He said veterans are a tight knit group and will do anything to help one another out.
"Service members and veterans are a strange breed, they will fight or compete amongst the services, but heaven help you if you choose to make an enemy of a veteran with another veteran in earshot because you will have a battle on your hands," he said. "They have shared the last drop of water in their canteen, their last bite of food or a blanket because this is a brotherhood and sisterhood, a family. A family because only another veteran knows what the other one has been through. To different degrees, we have all been there and done that but we didn't get the T-shirt, we got the DD-214.
"Everyone who joins the military, which means every veteran sitting in this room, has taken an oath, an oath of enlistment to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same."
The evening also featured the posting of colors by the American Legion Post 29 Honor Guard. Commander Rick Hinchman welcomed and introduced guests. Dinner was prepared and served by Post 29 officers and auxiliary.