Veterans honored at national cemetery observance

By Cathy Spaulding

FORT GIBSON — Robin Shouse of Owasso stood with her hand on her heart, a tear in one eye, as she heard “God Bless America” during the Veterans Day observance at Fort Gibson National Cemetery.

She said her father, Army veteran Roy Simpson, died in January and is buried there. She said that was why she was so affected Tuesday at her first Veterans Day service at the cemetery.

Dozens of veterans, family members and supporters also were moved as they gathered for the service.

Gracie Specks, acting director of the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center, said the service was held “to honor all of our veterans.”

“Some are just out of high school,” she said. “These are Americans who step out of the crowd. A veteran can be your mother, your father, your friend or a stranger. But the veteran signed a check up to and including life itself.”

State Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, reminded those at the service to remember the 13 soldiers killed in a Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. He said that while flags at full staff line the roads inside the cemetery, the largest flag remains at half-staff in honor of Fort Hood’s fallen. One of the soldiers was Jason Dean Hunt of Tipton, he said.

“His high school guidance counselor said Hunt was someone who thought he could make a difference in some way,” Faught said. “Two months before he was killed, J.D. Hunt got married and he was soon to be deployed to Iraq.”

State Rep. Jerry McPeak, D-Muskogee, who emceed the service, said people must show respect during the flag salute and national anthem.

“And those of us who serve in the political platform, hold our feet to the fire,” McPeak said. “Talk is cheap. Help us serve our veterans.”

World War II veteran Dusty Rhodes, a resident of Winfield, Kans., spontaneously stood during the service and asked people to honor his fallen comrade, Capt. Ernest Edwin Evans, a 1926 Muskogee Central High School graduate. Rhodes said he sailed with Evans on the USS Johnston when it was attacked by the Japanese on Oct. 25, 1944.

“He went down with his ship,” Rhodes said. “I recall he had a barrel chest and a barrel voice.”

Robin Shouse and her husband, Greg Shouse, brought their children to the service.

“We kept our kids out of school today; there are some things you’ve got to see first-hand,” Greg Shouse said.

Greg’s father, Vietnam veteran Robert Shouse, said his wife and his father are buried at Fort Gibson.

“And someday I’ll be buried here,” he said.



Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email

Text Only