SPRINGDALE -- Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson gave thanks to U.S. veterans for their service in his first scheduled public appearance after last week's vote.
Hutchinson scheduled his appearance at Monday's 22nd annual Veterans Day assembly at Southwest Junior High School in Springdale before last Tuesday's election. His grandson, Asa Hutchinson IV, is enrolled at Southwest.
The elder Hutchinson appeared along with a half-dozen local veterans whose service spanned every major armed conflict that U.S. troops have been involved in from World War II to the present. One veteran, helicopter pilot Rick Bailey, served in Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"The next governor of Arkansas is a graduate of Springdale High School," Jim Rollins, the Springdale School District superintendent, said during Hutchinson's introduction.
Hutchinson reminded the audience that a nephew of his, Trevor Roberts of Ada, Okla., was killed in action in Iraq in 2007. About 200,000 veterans live in Arkansas, he said.
Arkansas veterans who receive honors and medals get the most attention on days like this, he said, but those who serve in grueling, demanding but more routine roles deserve appreciation also.
"What's protecting us from another terrorist attack are the men and women taking the fight to the terrorists overseas," he said.
There are battles to be fought at home, also, said Bailey in his remarks. Bailey is a deputy coroner in Washington County. He said far too many young people take their own lives. A contributing factor is bullying at school, and it is the duty of students to report bullying and do something about it, he said.
"Don't let your fellow student in a foxhole down, and the foxhole is here, at your school," Bailey said. "Be a battle buddy."
Floyd Buffington, a veteran of the Korean War, said that U.S. veterans protect more than the country's own citizens.
"The Soviet Union learned that Americans will fight for the freedoms of other people anywhere in the world," he said of Korea.
NW News on 11/11/2014