Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, November 06, 2008, Pages 1 & 14

Four medals were presented to Vietnam veteran David ROGERS of Shannon City when Congressman Steve KING visited the Veterans lunch held at the Mount Ayr American Legion building Saturday.

The event, held for all Mount Ayr American Legion post and auxiliary members, also featured a talk by Gloria MYERS about the service of Elvin MYERS and Louis MYERS in World War II.

In presenting the medals, KING talked about two pillars of his upbringing.

"I grew up among World War II veterans and was steeped in the history of the United States," KING said.

"I remember asking my father at one point, did the United States ever lose a war," he said. The answer in those pre-Vietnam days was no.

"I also grew up with an image of the United States as being the best country in the world to live in and was reminded over and over what a blessing it was to be born in this country," KING said.

When Vietnam vets came back from the service, however, they were treated with contempt in some circles.

It wasn't like the send off and welcoming ceremonies that we are having for our troops as they go to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan," he noted.

He told about walking through an airport where a group of servicemen were coming home and seeing people stand and clap as they walked through the airport.

"We have worked to rebuild the respect for our military men and women which is very important to our country," KING said.

KING said that February 11, 1945 ws an important day in history because it was then Talin (sic, should be Stalin), Churchill an Roosevelt drew lines on a map that marked which countries would lie behind the Iron Curtain.

"Those lines wrote the fate of tens of thousands of Americans for the future," KING said.

Battling the threat of expansion of communism by military means became necessary for the United States.

"The Vietnam story was really one of fighting the expansion of communism to a standstill with the Vietnam War being the last violent expansion of communism," he noted.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War came to an end and freedom echoed all across Europe and Asia for many people.

"I believe that in the future historians with an objective eye will not that the Vietnam War was a turning point in the move toward stopping the expansion of communism," he said.

He thanked ROGERS for his service and presented him with the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with three bronze stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960 Service and the Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation -- the Gallantry Cross medal color with palm. He also presented ROGERS with a corrected service record to indicate the medals he had received.

ROGERS thanked the Congressman's staff for its help and said that the presentation brought some closure to him.

New Legion commander Wes ZOLLMAN, a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, and returning auxiliary president Sue BECK were introduced at the meeting.

Gloria MYERS shared an expanded story of the service of Elvin MYERS and Louis MYERS, who were prisoners of war in World War II.

More Veterans Day observances are set for Tuesday, Nov. 11.

     

  Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, July of 2012