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Camp Nelson honors its veterans

November 12, 2008|Mike Moore

(Editor's note: Click here to watch a Journal Newscast of the 2008 Veterans Day ceremony held at Camp Nelson National Cemetaery.)

Amid the smattering of rain drops and chilly temperatures, some 200 people turned out to Camp Nelson National Cemetery to pay tribute on Veterans Day. Nicholasville Police Chief Barry Waldrop, whose father, Kyle, was killed on March 12, 1969, while serving in his third tour in Vietnam, was the keynote speaker.

"Before he left (for Vietnam) he told me to take care of my mother," Waldrop, who was 15 years old when his father died, said. "That was the last conversation that I had with my father."

After learning of his father's death, Waldrop said he worked hard to keep his promise, including filling out mountains of paperwork so that his mother would receive her husband's veteran benefits. He told the story of how an official with the Veterans Administration referred to him as a war orphan as he got the paperwork together those many years ago.

"I told him that I was no war orphan," he said. "I am the son of a veteran, and not just any veteran, but one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. I told him that I could never be an orphan because I belong to one of the most honorable and prestigious groups in the United Waldrop said he was deeply touched to be able to honor the memory of the many buried at Camp Nelson, and to honor those left behind on Veterans Day.

"For these individuals are the ones who have to live with the hurt and the pain after the fanfare and the parades are over," he said. "We must be mindful to teach not only our children, but our children's children that freedom is not free."

He also spoke of the needs the Department of Veterans Affairs is facing today and called upon the nation's elected leaders to not forget the VA.

"When funding is short, it's our veterans that pay the price," he said. "It's a bipartisan effort, and that's what needs to happen. Let's face it. The defense of America is bipartisan. Believe me, no one at the recruiting station asks if you're a democrat or republican; they ask you to raise your right hand."

Irvin's Lois Jo Eversole was among the many who braved the chilly, rainy morning at the cemetery, as she and Nicholasville's Mayme Wilson visited the grave of Eversole's husband, Price M. Eversole, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars.

"There he is," Eversole said, proudly pointing to her husband's headstone before the service started.

Waldrop said the sacrifices that so many have made should never been taken lightly and that Veterans Day shouldn't be taken for granted.

"The big sales at the shopping malls have nothing to do with this holiday's significance," he said.

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