TheState.com: SC at War

German court sentences US airmen's killer to life

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:51 EST

An Islamic extremist who killed two U.S. airmen bound for Afghanistan at Frankfurt airport last year and injured two others was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

The state court in Frankfurt convicted 22-year-old Arid Uka of two counts of murder. It also found him guilty of three counts of attempted murder and serious bodily harm for wounding two other servicemen and taking aim at a third before his 9 mm pistol jammed.

Uka, an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, killed Senior Airman Nicholas J. Alden, 25, from South Carolina, and Airman 1st Class Zachary R. Cuddeback, 21, from Virginia in the March 2 attack on the Afghanistan-bound servicemen as they were boarding a bus at the airport.

Judge Thomas Sagebiel ruled that Uka bears "particularly severe guilt," citing the nature of his ambush on the soldiers, the fact he shot unarmed people from behind and the severity of the injuries he inflicted.

That means he won't immediately be eligible for parole after 15 years as is usual in Germany.

National Guard, Reserves likely to avoid cuts

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:37 EST

The Army National Guard and Reserve likely will not suffer the budget and personnel cutbacks that are going to be required in the active duty Army.

That was the opinion of two people who should know – Maj. Gen. Bob Livingston, South Carolina’s adjutant general and commander of the S.C. National Guard; and Maj. Gen. Mari Eder, commanding general of the national U.S. Army Reserve Joint and Special Troops Support Command.

“We will have belt-tightening, but nobody is going to lose their jobs,” Livingston said.

Eder, based in Salt Lake City, visited Livingston this week after a visit to Lander University.

“I think we’re going to see an increased reliance in the Guard and Reserve,” she said. “And change in missions, perhaps. A change in opportunities.”

Fort Jackson opening its gates for public tours

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:25 EST

Maj. Gen. James Milano is inviting the public to a special, up-close tour of Fort Jackson and its soldiers in training.

The commanding general will host a six-hour event Feb. 16, beginning at 8:45 a.m., that will let the public see how soldiers train and offer insight into the day-to-day operations of the post.

Visitors will attend Basic Combat Training graduation, see soldiers train, learn to shoot the M16A2 in a simulator and eat in an Army dining facility.

The tours are free. Lunch cost is $4.55.

Reservations are required by Feb. 8. To register, call (803) 751-1474.

SC House considers creating South Carolina Medal of Honor for fallen soldiers

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:47 EST

The SC House of Representatives is considering creating a South Carolina Medal of Honor to be awarded to soldiers with ties to the state who are killed in combat or while deploying to a war zone.

The bill, with 51 co-sponsors, was introduced in June and referred to the medical, military, public and municipal affairs house committee, which is discussing it this afternoon.

The medal would be awarded to families of fallen service members on behalf of the people of the state of South Carolina. Recipients would have their names entered on a SC Medal of Honor roll, to be maintained by the state’s adjutant general.

The subcommittee also is considering a special “Honor and Remember” flag that would be presented to the soldiers’ families.

Eligible fallen soldiers include:

SC bases sweat out F-35 delays

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:44 EST

WASHINGTON For all its high-tech stealth and record price tag, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter embodies the droll military motto “Hurry up and wait.”

Conceived in the heady post-Cold War 1990s, the futuristic fifth-generation jet fighter was to be a technological marvel that would be built in a rush and paid for with “peace dividend” dollars.

Evading radar systems while flying at supersonic speeds, the sleek aircraft would serve three of the main U.S. military services — the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps — each of which generally opts for its own specialized plane.

But burdened by years of cost overruns, production snags and flight-test problems, the heavily hyped fighter has been on the chopping block as the Pentagon faces $1 trillion in potential cuts.

What happens to the Joint Strike Fighter is important to South Carolina because it’s scheduled to be deployed to three air bases in the state in Lower Richland, Sumter and Beaufort.

Cheating the death train

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:29 EST

A few days before Christmas, 89-year-old World War II veteran Grier Taylor of Batesburg-Leesville got an unexpected telephone call.

The woman on the other end of the line spoke halting English, but her message was clear: She wanted to thank Taylor for helping to save her father’s life.

Her father, now a physician in Israel, was a 14-year-old boy on April 13, 1945 – one of about 2,500 filthy, starving prisoners of Germany’s infamous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The suffering souls – 700 of them children – had been packed into boxcars in a veritable death train. They were bound for an uncertain future in another camp farther away from the front lines when they were liberated by advancing American troops.

“She said, ‘Merry Christmas.’ I said, ‘Happy Hanukkah,’” said Taylor, sitting at the dining room table of his tidy home on Lake Murray. “I thought it might be a prank call. But then she started talking about my unit, and I knew she was real. It was just a shock.”

The call was just the latest chapter in an almost decade-long effort by Varda Weisskopf and others to learn more about the “death train” and the U.S. soldiers who liberated it.

Honoring a hero

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:47 EST

Army Master Sgt. John F. Baker Jr., who received the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of eight of his fellow soldiers during an ambush in Vietnam, was remembered Friday as a fearless, but compassionate soldier who continued to serve others until his death last week.

“He wasn’t just someone you wanted beside you in combat,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Foley, Baker’s company commander during the Vietnam War and who also receive the Medal of Honor in the same battle. “He reached out to others all his life.”

Baker, 66, who lived with his wife, Donnell, in Northeast Richland, was the last Army soldier with ties to South Carolina to receive the medal from any conflict. He was one of only 239 service members from the Vietnam War to receive the nation’s highest award for valor in combat.

Col. Charles P. Murray Jr., who received the Medal of Honor in France during World War II, died Aug. 12 in his Columbia home of congestive heart failure. Baker, like Murray, will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

Baker died Aug. 20. He collapsed in his kitchen after returning home from supper. He had undergone open heart surgery in 2008.

Petraeus: ‘More unites us . . . than divides us’

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:24 EST

When Gen. David Petraeus first led U.S. troops into Iraq in 2003, he said Iraqis often greeted his soldiers with cheers and gratitude.

“Thank you, America. We love the United States,” Petraeus said they shouted. “We love democracy. What is it?”

In Columbia Tuesday for the annual David Wilkins Awards for Excellence in Legislative and Civic Leadership, the retired four-star general — named director of the Central Intelligence Agency last year — said Iraqis have a much better idea of what democracy is today.

“They also know how truly difficult it is to build and then to sustain,” Petraeus said. “Indeed they are experiencing many serious challenges at present.”

Yet Petraeus said Iraqis and Afghans still put their lives on the line each day because they think freedom is worth the effort.

Baker, SC Medal of Honor recipient, dead at 66

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:47 EST

Army Master Sgt. John F. Baker Jr., who received the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of eight of his fellow soldiers, killing 10 Viet Cong and knocking out six machine gun bunkers after his unit was ambushed Nov. 5, 1966, in Vietnam, died Friday evening after collapsing in his Northeast Richland home. He was 66.

Baker and his wife, Donnell, had just returned home from supper when he collapsed, said retired Maj. Gen. Gene Rogers of Columbia, a family friend. Baker had suffered heart problems and had been using oxygen for about a year and a half, Rogers said.

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for valor in combat. Baker’s commander, Robert Foley, also received the Medal of Honor for the unit’s action.

“We’ve lost a brave and courageous American hero,” Rogers said. “He and Donnell asked for so little and did so much for the country. The country is a better place because he lived in it.”

Baker was active in veteran’s issues and was instrumental in bringing the national Medal of Honor convention to Charleston in 2010.

General works as military ambassador

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:47 EST

The three-star general who’s taken charge of the Third Army and its U.S. ground forces around the Persian Gulf and central Asia has become a roving ambassador, traveling from his new command based in South Carolina to more than a dozen nations in those regions.

“We do much more than what is in the public eye, more than what we’ve done in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Lt. Gen. Vincent Brooks, who took over command of the U.S. land forces in a 20-nation region that ranges from Egypt to Afghanistan.

In an intervew in his new headquarters in Sumter, Brooks said his role as a military diplomat fits in with the new strategy announced last week at the Pentagon, which looks to slim U.S. military forces and rely more on allied militaries.

Such ties are vital to any U.S. military ground operation, Brooks said, noting the reliance on Kuwait and Jordan during the recent pullout of U.S. forces from neighboring Iraq.

“We look for partnerships, and those build relationships to become a foundation for what we do,” Brooks said.

Playground built on heart, soul, winnings

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:42 EST

When Cheryl Jackson’s name was picked in a recent raffle, deciding what she would do with her winnings was an easy decision to make.

Jackson, who is the manager of Fort Jackson’s Exceptional Family Member program, wanted to use her winnings — $750 worth of landscaping — to beautify a place that is near and dear to her: Fort Jackson’s Boundless Playground. A national nonprofit, Boundless Playgrounds are designed with special needs children in mind.

Jackson was instrumental in the planning of the fort’s own Boundless Playground, Jackson Musical Park, which opened last year.

Recently she talked about the project and how the donation of new plants will be used.

How is this playground different from traditional playgrounds?

SC soldier killed in Afghan war

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:51 EST

An S.C. soldier has been killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan.

Pfc. Justin M. Whitmire, 20, of Easley was one of three U.S. soldiers who died after a Dec. 27 attack in Paktia, Afghanistan. The three died after enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device, the Defense Department said Thursday.

Also killed in the attack were Sgt. Noah M. Korte, 29, of Lake Elsinore, Calif., and Spc. Kurt W. Kern, 24, of McAllen, Texas.

Whitmire, who joined the military as a health care specialist in September 2010, had been in Afghanistan since July. He is at least the 35th service member with S.C. ties to die in the 10-year-old Afghan war.

Former soldier gets 35 years

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 23:16 EST

A retired Army chaplain assistant convicted of two counts of murder explained his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder Wednesday in an attempt to convince a judge to reduce his prison time.

Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Leslie Todd Parvin, 40, to 35 years in prison Wednesday for shooting and killing Edgar Lopez of Guatemala and Pablo Gutierrez-Guzman in July 2010. The maximum sentence he could have received was life in prison, and the minimum, 30 years.

Newman said he had reviewed Parvin’s military records and the treatment he had received for his post-traumatic stress disorder, which was diagnosed in 2007.

“It appears the country had not failed Mr. Parvin as far as giving him treatment,” Newman said. “As for the after-effects of war and reintegration into society, I don’t know. We stand not to judge Mr. Parvin as a man but on the acts he committed on July 30, murdering Mr. Lopez and Mr. Gutierrez.”

Parvin was convicted last week in the shooting deaths of Lopez and Gutierrez-Guzman, a Mexican immigrant, in Lopez’s back yard in Woodfield Park. Witnesses told a jury that Parvin had paid Lopez $200 to have sex and then shot the men after Lopez backed out of the deal.

Shaw Air Force Base opens new Exchange on post

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:42 EST

Out with the old and in with the new.

This is a way to describe the $19.8 million new Exchange shopping center at Shaw Air Base, where a grand opening ceremony was recently held for the 81,000-square-foot facility.

Several military and civilian personnel attended the ceremony, which included a ribbon cutting.

“It is an awesome new facility,” said Senior Master Sgt. Eric Hall, who was one of many people checking out products in the new store. “It is more in line with the other Exchange stores and is a more modern facility.”

The new store replaced the old Exchange on base, which had been around since 1968. It was one of the oldest Exchange stores in the United States Air Force. The Air Force contributed $420,000 toward the project by funding demolition, utility work and military clothing as companion projects, according to Maj. Gen. Bruce Casella.

Dogs can be vets’ best friends

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:05 EST

Columbia’s 1st Sgt. Will Roberts, a U.S. Army paratrooper, has been deployed into combat seven times with the elite 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

Kosovo. Bosnia. Two deployments to Iraq. Three to Afghanistan.

Each of those deployments involved intense, front-line fighting with Roberts leading some of the nation’s most hardened soldiers: Army Rangers.

“I lived for that war stuff,” said Roberts, 45.

Today, Roberts is one of the estimated 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And with the Iraq war winding down – the last U.S. troops are leaving that country this month – more and more service members are returning home. Many are returning with injuries, including psychological trauma, and many are in the Midlands.

PTSD: The spouses speak out

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:05 EST

On Christmas Day, 2007, Alexis Lane’s fiance, a hard-driving tanker in the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division, got down on one knee and proposed to her in front of her family.

He had been among the first troops to enter Baghdad in 2003, where he lost many friends. The two had met in California, while he was on leave from his second deployment in 2006-2007, when he lost more friends. And he was proposing, in part, because Lane, of Chapin, had helped him deal with all the bad memories.

“I’m thankful for you and your family and all the things you’ve done for me since I got back from the war,” he told her. “Will you marry me?”

Two years after their February 2008 wedding, the couple had split. They had been intimate just once – on their wedding night. Lane, then 19, was not allowed to sit on the same sofa or sleep in the same bed with her husband. She was not permitted to touch him. They rarely left their shuttered house, and when they did, it often involved heavy drinking sessions with his Army buddies that ended in drunken brawls.

After coaxing him to the Veterans Administration for treatment, Lane’s husband asked her to leave.

Troops ready for ‘final march toward home’

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:04 EST

With the war in Iraq coming to a close and a drawdown of troops in Afghanistan under way, South Carolina and the nation must turn it attentions to taking care of returning service members and rebuilding the economy.

Those were the comments of three prominent S.C. Democrats who have served in the Gulf War, Iraq or Afghanistan during a conference call Wednesday arranged by the progressive Truman National Security Project.

“This is a great milestone, not only for our country but for the military,” said Rob Miller, a Marine Corps veteran who served twice in Iraq, in 2003 and 2004. “Its ‘mission accomplished’ and time to refocus our efforts … here at home to begin the process of rebuilding the middle class.”

The three Democrats – Miller, who twice made unsuccessful bids for Congress against Republican Joe Wilson; State Sen. Phil Leventis of Sumter, a fighter pilot in the Gulf War; and state Rep. James Smith of Columbia, who resigned his commission as a captain in the Army National Guard’s judge advocate general corps in 2003 to re-enlist in the infantry and fight in southern Afghanistan — praised President Barack Obama’s handling of foreign policy since taking office. In addition to ending the war in Iraq, they cited the toppling of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, the troop surge in Afghanistan and the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan as hallmarks of the administration’s accomplishments.

“Security is not all about having the strongest military, although we have the strongest military,” Leventis said. “It’s about our policies. And what we are seeing with an end to the war is a commitment (by Obama) to America … on issues such as energy and freedom.”

Murder trial starts today in Richland County

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:34 EST

A retired Army veteran’s double murder trial begins today at the Richland County courthouse in Columbia.

Leslie Todd Parvin, 40, of Bay Springs Road is accused of shooting two Hispanic immigrants during a party July 30, 2010, in a nearby neighborhood off Decker Boulevard. Parvin is a retired Army master sergeant who served five overseas tours, including stints in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a chaplain’s assistant.

After the shooting, Parvin fled to Louisiana, but a relative later brought him back to South Carolina. Investigators arrested him after they discovered him hiding in a closet while searching his family’s home.

Parvin has been in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center without bond since his arrest.

He is being represented by a public defender, according to court documents.

Remembering the fallen

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:19 EST

Pearl Harbor attack, 70 years later

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:19 EST

On Dec. 7, 1941, Bronsil Metz watched in utter amazement as the Japanese plane dove straight for him, strafing the ground with machine gun bullets as it went.

“I could see the pilot’s face,” said Metz, then a 19-year-old soldier from Iva, a small town near Anderson.

Metz had stepped out of his quarters at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, to take in the view of the surrounding mountains. Suddenly, the sky filled with Japanese fighters intent on destroying American planes at adjacent Wheeler Field and the U.S. fleet at nearby Pearl Harbor naval base.

“The pilot had me in his sights,” said Metz, now 89. “I said, ‘Oh God. I’m gone.’ ”

But miraculously, the pilot backed off the trigger, pulled up and roared by, just yards over Metz’ head.

As Iraq and Afghan wars end, costs mount on pace to exceed Vietnam

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:16 EST

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may be winding down, but the long-term costs of caring for those wounded in battle is on path to rival the costs of the Vietnam War.

While Vietnam extracted a far higher death toll — 58,000 compared with 6,300 so far in the war on terror — the number of documented disabilities from recent veterans is approaching the size of that earlier conflict, according to a McClatchy Newspapers analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs data.

The data, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and detailing all disability payments to veterans of all wars, show that veterans leaving the military in recent years are filing for and receiving compensation for more injuries than did their fathers and grandfathers.

At the same time, McClatchy found, the VA is losing ground in efforts to provide fast, efficient and accurate disability decisions. And the agency has yet to get control of a problem that has vexed it for years: The wide variation in disability payments by state and region, even for veterans with the same ailments.

For soldiers now coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, this ongoing variation in an already-clogged disability system means the size of monthly compensation checks might be a quirk of geography.

They come to the Midlands to heal

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:16 EST

Marine Cpl. Steven Diaz had been in Iraq only three months, when, on March 25, 2005, his world exploded.

The 21-year-old was in the passenger seat of a Humvee near the Syrian border when he was struck by a roadside bomb.

The Chapin High School grad was riddled with shrapnel, including one shard that went through his left eye, ricocheted off his cranium and lodged in his brain, where it remains today. Doctors were able to save his left foot and leg.

“I’m very blessed,” said Diaz, who now lives in Columbia, attends school and helps other veterans deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related problems through the Hidden Wounds project.

Diaz is one of more than 5,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan in the Midlands who returned with a disability — one of the highest per-capita concentrations in the country, according to a national study conducted by McClatchy Newspapers.

Soldier killed in Afghanistan

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:49 EST

The son of a Florence woman was killed Nov. 13 while on patrol in Afghanistan.

Sgt. 1st Class Johnathan B. McCain, 38, of Apache Junction, Ariz., died of injuries suffered when his patrol was struck by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province. He is the son of Sharon Kay Gainey of Florence.

McCain was a member of the 25th Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He is survived by his wife and four children in North Pole, Alaska.

Interment will be in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. No memorial service is planned in South Carolina, the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs said.

McCain is the 99th service member with ties to South Carolina to die in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the ninth service member to die this year.

Social workers to aid military

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:50 EST

The University of South Carolina’s College of Social Work is starting a new program to train social workers to assist the military, veterans and their families.

Nancy Brown, the USC professor who has been pulling the program together, says there is a growing need for social workers in the field.

They can assist in mental health counseling, addiction treatment, behavioral health issues and transitional counseling.

Brown says the program is in its final stages of academic approval.

It will be an 18-hour graduate-level certificate program that is part of the college’s two-year master’s degree program. Four courses will be available by the summer.

Police search for missing cadet

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:39 EST

Officials from four agencies are searching Folly Beach for a cadet missing from The Citadel.

Coast Guard officials said they have a helicopter searching the Washout area of the beach, a popular surf spot, assisting Charleston police and county sheriff's office boats. Folly Beach police are conducting a land search.

Officials with The Citadel say Joshua Edwards has missed several check-ins since Thursday evening, according to L. Jeffrey Perez, the school's vice president of external affairs.

The officials said police discovered Edwards' vehicle parked at Folly Beach.

First lady: U.S. committed to hiring vets

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:37 EST

Assuring military veterans that “America has your back,” first lady Michelle Obama announced commitments from companies Thursday to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014.

“That’s 100,000 veterans and spouses who will have the security of a paycheck and good career,” Mrs. Obama said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “That’s thousands of families that can rest just a little bit easier every night.”

The first lady and the vice president’s wife, Jill Biden, launched their Joining Forces initiative in April to try to motivate citizens, businesses, nonprofits and community groups to do more to support military families.

It has resulted in the hiring of 16,000 veterans and spouses, and pledges to hire an additional 25,000.

Thursday’s announcement of 100,000 additional job commitments for military families includes plans to hire at least 5,000 wounded veterans.

More WWII vets share history in ETV special

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:53 EST

The men and women who served in World War II remain reluctant heroes decades later. The way they see it, they simply did their job, like everyone else in their generation, then came home and went on with their lives.

The magic of the “South Carolinians in World War II” series comes when time, posterity and the rolling camera break through the reluctance. It’s not as if the veterans are bragging. They just relate what happened, what they did, and viewers can’t help but be impressed.

The third episode of the series, “A Path to Victory,” debuts tonight on ETV television stations. The effort is a partnership between the ETV Endowment and The State newspaper.

What started as a project to capture a piece of history has turned into much more. It’s a catharsis for those who served and an eye-opener for the generations that have come after them.

“When they start talking, you can see on their face that they’re a kid again,” said Wade Sellers, director and editor of the series. “They look off away from the camera – ‘We were in the field, and there were 52 dead bodies in front of me’ – and you can see that they’re there again.”

Obama pushes veterans’ job aid

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:45 EST

Embracing veterans, President Barack Obama on Monday urged Republicans in Congress to “put country before party” and support new ways of helping former members of the military find jobs in a sluggish economy.

“Our veterans did their jobs. It’s time for Congress to do theirs. It’s time for them to put country before party,” Obama said in the Rose Garden, flanked by leaders of veterans’ groups.

Ahead of Veterans’ Day, Obama pressed lawmakers to approve tax credits for businesses to hire unemployed veterans or injured veterans who have been out of work. The Senate is expected to consider the measures this week.

The actions are part of a larger effort by the White House to draw contrasts with congressional Republicans who have opposed Obama’s jobs legislation a year before the 2012 election. Obama has signed executive orders aimed at spurring job growth and helping homeowners and college students in recent weeks, saying he does not want to wait for Congress to act.

Obama said the administration would act unilaterally to help veterans match their skills to job openings and access job banks. He said veterans could download a “Veteran Gold Card” issued by the Labor Department that allows former military members to get six months of personalized case management, assessment and counseling at career centers.

Couple follows up 43 years of military service with college degrees

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:04 EST

Each Veterans Day, there are calls for more support for military personnel, more appreciation for the sacrifices that service members make and more programs to ensure they seamlessly can plug themselves back into the civilian workforce once their service ends.

This year, Veterans Day will find one Midlands couple taking advantage of benefits they earned during their combined four decades of service in the Army.

Avon and Valorie Banks met as drill sergeants at Fort Jackson in 1992. Now, after almost 19 years of marriage and seeing two of their children start and finish college, the Banks are on the cusp of getting a college degree themselves.

Taking advantage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Avon Banks, 46, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in health administration, and Valorie Banks, 47, is working on a bachelor’s degree in human-resources management.

Both are taking classes at the University of Phoenix, a for-profit school that offers a mix of online and traditional classes. Both said the discipline they learned in the Army has made juggling full-time jobs, raising children and taking classes a little bit easier.

Parade salutes sacrifice, veteran says

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:04 EST

A parade honoring military veterans in Lexington on Sunday was a call to duty for Jack Moore even though he’s been out of the Air Force for 51 years.

It is important to salute the sacrifices and contributions that veterans made in war and peace, he said.

“We appreciate their service,” he said. “Every young person ought to have the opportunity to do it in some fashion.”

The parade through the center of the town is among a series of commemorations honoring the military that Moore, who lives nearby on the south shore of Lake Murray, attends each year.

It was a one-mile parade heavy with local flavor.