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Globe/Garry Jeffries Will Koehler, a student at Pittsburg State University, plays taps Wednesday during a ceremony at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater at PSU.

Published November 11, 2009 04:43 pm - ROCKY COMFORT, Mo. — When William Blevins got up Wednesday morning, he put on a T-shirt sporting the slogan “Freedom is not free” for Veterans Day. His 7-year-old grandson, Jason, questioned the phrase. In Jason’s mind, Blevins said, freedom was free.

Speakers cite sacrifices made by military veterans w/ slide show



By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

ROCKY COMFORT, Mo. — When William Blevins got up Wednesday morning, he put on a T-shirt sporting the slogan “Freedom is not free” for Veterans Day.

His 7-year-old grandson, Jason, questioned the phrase. In Jason’s mind, Blevins said, freedom was free.

“I had to explain to him about how people died to keep freedom free,” said Blevins, a Rocky Comfort resident who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. “We had to fight these wars throughout the years to keep freedom free. He kind of understood it.”

Blevins was among more than 20 veterans who were recognized individually at a Veterans Day ceremony Wednesday afternoon at Rocky Comfort Elementary School in McDonald County. Students, staff members, parents and residents attended to honor them and their service.

Guest speakers

Guest speakers were retired Gen. Terrence R. Dake of the Marine Corps and retired Lt. Col. Robert Brumley II, a 22-year veteran of the Air Force. Both graduated from McDonald County schools.

Dake, a 34-year Marine Corps veteran who also was former President Ronald Reagan’s helicopter pilot from 1983 to 1985, said his overseas tours helped remind him of what he was protecting at home.

“I’d come back to America, and I had an overwhelming feeling of what a great nation we are, how free we are,” Dake said. “I’m 65 years old, and I’ve never lived a day I wasn’t free.”



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