Details of veterans' festival unveiled
By MARTY FINLEY
The News Enterprise
February 28, 2010
HARDIN COUNTY — Friday's formal announcement of a countywide festival honoring Vietnam veterans was meant only as a teaser. But the excitement of organizers could not be held in check.
"This has been months in the making," Radcliff-Hardin County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jo Emary said.
And years overdue, added Elizabethtown-Hardin County Chamber of Commerce President Rik Hawkins.
The welcome home celebration is scheduled for four days in August, unifying the county toward one goal.
The Heartland Chambers Alliance — a collective of the Elizabethtown, Radcliff, Vine Grove and West Point chambers of commerce and the Fort Knox Public Affairs office — is leading the way, with events slated for a different part of the county each day.
Vine Grove rolls out the opening ceremonies Aug. 26.
Vine Grove Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Donna Broadway said the city wants to implement music with its event, and she hopes to uncover a band featuring Vietnam veterans. If that proves unsuccessful, she said she will broaden her search to a band with any veterans.
"(I) always shoot for the moon and sometimes I hit it," she said.
The city is well-versed in both music and veteran tributes through its bluegrass and Veterans' Day festivals, and Broadway said it was only natural to blend the two into one event.
Vine Grove also plans to market its park to those who want to bring their RVs and set up instead of renting a hotel room.
Radcliff and West Point are partnering to host events on Aug. 27, and Emary said visitors will have a variety of options to choose from.
Originally, the cities were going to host on separate days, but discussions between the chambers changed minds. Emary said organizers realized all may not want to travel to Fort Duffield, so the city of Radcliff is considering a "pampering" tea at Emary's home as an alternative option.
Chamber officials said there will be major and minor events along the way. For example, Radcliff is planning a large cookout and visitors will be encouraged to attend.
Hawkins said Freeman Lake Park will look much different this year during Elizabethtown's leg of the celebration on Aug. 28. He asked attendees to picture a scene out of the TV show M*A*S*H for a visual, as a portion of the park will be transformed into a camp.
There also will be a special entrance to the park for veterans and Hawkins plans to coordinate with Fort Knox for military escorts.
The event will fall on the weekend of the Heartland Festival, but Hawkins assured the crowd the festival is not disappearing. Instead, it is morphing this year into something "more powerful," he said.
The celebration will wrap up Aug. 29 at Fort Knox.
Col. Jeff Ogden, deputy garrison commander of transformation at Fort Knox, said Vietnam veterans never received the respect they deserved. Unlike other veterans, they returned home with little fanfare, and many were cursed and berated.
Ogden said it is time the county corrects this blemish.
"It is great," he said of the festival. "It's the right thing to do."
He did not reveal any plans Fort Knox has for its event, but he did offer up a positive thought for weather conditions.
Not that it matters. The event will happen despite the conditions because it needs to, he said.
Hawkins agreed. Tearing up, he recalled the efforts of the community last week in honoring Lance Cpl. Matthias Hanson, the LaRue County native who lost his life Feb. 21 while supporting combat operations in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan.
On Friday, residents throughout the county took to the streets to pay their respects as Hanson's funeral route traveled down U.S. 31W from Fort Knox. Businesses also displayed Hanson's name on signs in tribute.
But Hawkins said the window is closing to pay the same respect for those who served in Vietnam, as more and more are lost with the passing of time.
"We need to do this before it's too late," he said.
Spreading the word. The Heartland Chambers Alliance is heading the festival, but its members were eager to give credit to those who called for action.
The event is inspired by the Week of the Eagles ceremony at Fort Campbell, which also honors Vietnam veterans.
Charlie Fraley, a local Vietnam veteran, attended the event last year and he brought the idea before the Hooray for Heroes committee, which counts members of the Chambers Alliance among its ranks.
"If they can do it, we can do it," Fraley said.
Fraley said he turned the idea over to the community rather than his fellow veterans because it would have been akin to them throwing their own birthday bash.
Likewise, Linda Bolin, a local resident who works at Fort Knox, was touched by the Fort Campbell event and pitched the idea to Hooray for Heroes organizers, too.
"We've always been patriotic," Bolin said of her family.
Interest quickly spread.
Emary took this interest as a sign, and she said community leaders would have been foolish to ignore the request.
"I don't believe in coincidences," she said.
The Heartland Chambers Alliance expects details of the festival will be locked in by June and hopes to add more communities in Hardin County to the roster. For instance, Sonora has shown interest in participating, Emary said.
Organizers also plan to market the festival in larger cities and asked veterans in attendance to spread the word.
Broadway, meanwhile, said progress occurs when people put their egos on the shelf.
"(If) you don't care who gets the credit, you can get things done," she said.
Marty Finley can be reached at (270) 505-1762.
This story, written by Marty Finley, was provided to One Knox courtesy of The News Enterprise. Read more stories from The News Enterprise at www.thenewsenterprise.com.
