By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The Hays Senior Center honored its members who are veterans with a patriotic program and lunch Friday.
Men who served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War were escorted to their seats of honor at the front of the room as their service branch and years of service were read. They were members of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.
Also honored were three visiting veterans, Don Bickle, Harold Kraus, and Leo Knoll.
Navy veteran Bickle served in 1945 in WWI and again in the Korean War in 1950. Kraus was also in the Navy, serving from 1951-1960 in the Korean War and what’s known as the “Cold War.”
“I flew over some beautiful places during the Cold War, and later took my wife to see those countries as a tourist,” Kraus said during lunch with his wife Virginia beside him.
Knoll served in the Army from 1963 to 1966.
All the honorees were given a small U.S. flag and bright red fabric poppy to wear as the group posed for pictures.
The event was an early observation of Veterans Day, originally called Armistice Day.
In 1918, World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month with a signed armistice declaring the “war to end all wars” was finally over. The next year, the U.S. declared Nov. 11th Armistice Day in memory of the men and women involved in WWI.
Many soldiers were buried in Flanders Field, site of a bloody WWI battle in Belgium. Poppies thrived in the battle-scarred soil strewn with rubble, which provided lime deposits and made the soil rich. The site became a stark contrast of white crosses and vibrant red poppies.
“Today, the poppy represents all the people who died in the service of their country,” explained Nancy Augustine, monthly activity coordinator for the center.
The Hays VFW Post 9076 Honor Guard posted the colors and patriotic music was song by the Victoria trio “Trilogy,” comprised of brothers Jerry and Leroy Schmidtberger and a brother-in-law, Rick Rupp.
Several tables were filled with pictures and memories of servicemen from Hays and Ellis County.
Food server Angela Moxter, who also helped escort the honorees, provided pictures of her father, Robert H. Meyer, a Pearl Harbor survivor. Meyer served in the Navy from 1939 to 1945.
Meyer is first seen in a large, black and white group picture of sailors in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The photo was taken Nov. 30, 1941, one week before the Dec. 7 bombing that spurred the United States to enter World War II.
A second, color picture shows Meyer in his Pearl Harbor survivor cap attending a military remembrance ceremony.
Meyer died two years ago.
