Steve snapped some photos of the Veteran’s Day Events on Saturday and Sunday. He also added some information, too!
Steve writes, “Sunday I photographed Jack and his restored MB and M-100 trailer at the ceremony on Veteran’s Day,at the new Veteran’s Cemetery 10 miles West of town. Jack restored this Jeep exactly like the one he drove in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. It’s complete with machine gun mounted on the passenger’s side. I asked, and he said that most of their Jeeps were beat up MB’s left over from WWII. They didn’t see many “new” M38A-1 Jeeps during his tour.
Jack is a great man because he goes around to the local schools teaching kids how war is not a good thing, but it is necessary to protect our freedom from those who want to change us. He saw heavy action. Now he see that we are gradually losing our freedom as time goes on. He is now growing frail, and cannot go to as many schools as before. I told him I know someone who can make a professional video tape of him to preserve his presentation. He would like to do that.
He has a Korean friend who was 8 years old living through the Korean War. She accompanies Jack to the schools and shares her story of what their civilian family endured throughout the war in Korea. I don’t know her name, but she was the lady in the back of his Jeep in Korean attire during the Saturday’s Shasta City parade shown below.
The medallion Jack holds was from the Mayor of Seoul, South Korea marking the 50th anniversary of the war. The Mayor visited all the Korean Veteran’s groups and awarded that medallion to those who fought for his country. His gratitude meant a lot to that soldier, who never went back to that forsaken land, until much later in life. The City of Seoul was devastated during the war, and is now one of the most modern cities in the world. He didn’t recognize the airport when he landed several years ago. The old airport he remembered was a swampy land that was weathered by war.
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These photos were taken at the Veteran’s Day Parade in Shasta Lake City, CA on Saturday, November 10th. That just happens to be my dad’s 83rd birthday, who is Korean War Veteran. This parade gets bigger and better every year. I’ve never seen so much patriotism with such proud participants and spectators as in this little town 6 miles North of me.
History Note: The City of Shasta Lake was relatively recently incorporated when three small communities decided to incorporate to prevent being annexed into the sprawling City of Redding. The communities of Central Valley, Summit City, and Project City emerged in the late 1930’s with the construction of Shasta Dam, which plays a major role in California’s Central Valley Project for flood control and for irrigation of the great central valley. The great central valley is one of the largest, most fertile valley’s in the world stretching from Redding to Bakersfield. The center of California was an ancient bay at one time, attached to the ocean at San Francisco. Shasta Dam was completed during WWII. If you were working on the dam, you didn’t get drafted.
This GPW finished the parade early and was driving back to the staging area. It was driven by one of the last WWII vets remaining.
The UH-1 Huey belongs to an active vet group, who participates in many local events educating the public, especially kids, about our history. The helicopter is not operative, but is fully interactive with live sound when kids climb on board and sit in the pilot’s seat.
The sunset photo was taken on a hike I took with a friend in the hills above the Veteran’s Cemetary in Igo, CA after today’s ceremony. I could imagine taps playing at the end of another Veteran’s Day celebration of those who served proudly. All gave some, some gave all.
