Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School holds Veterans Day luncheon
KARNS CITY — Three days in advance of Veterans Day, Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School held an assembly and luncheon for local veterans of conflicts ranging from World War II to more recent conflicts in the Middle East.
More than 70 former servicemen and servicewomen took part in the day’s festivities, which started with a luncheon in the school library where old friends reunited and reminisced about their experiences serving their country.
One of them was Bill Emanuelson, who served in the U.S. Marines from 1967 to 1971, and was in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 serving as part of the 1st Reconnaisance Battalion.
“It’s been 52 years now, and we're still getting Christmas cards from six of the guys that were in my squad,” Emanuelson said.
Many of the veterans who attended are members of the American Legion Post 642, based in nearby Chicora. One of those was David Fleeger, who served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1968 and repaired microwave radio equipment in Vietnam.
Fleeger, a Karns City graduate of the Class of 1965, said his favorite memory was “making it back home.”
After a brief luncheon in the school library, the veterans were brought to the school gymnasium, where the entire student body was waiting for them with applause. They were welcomed by Brenda Knoll, who missed the ceremony last year, as she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
“I can tell you that after missing this program last year, as I stood over there and watched you enter, I'm so thankful to be back here,” Knoll said.
The keynote speaker was Jim McMullen, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1964 to 1968 mostly servicing helicopters near Washington, D.C. One of his most memorable experiences served as a lesson for the student body.
Among the helicopters McMullen serviced were those that carried the President of the United States. One August day, then-President Lyndon Johnson wanted to make an unannounced trip in a military helicopter with some of his secretaries, only for the helicopter to be grounded due to an air conditioning fault.
According to McMullen, who was 23 at the time, he found the cause of the problem and said he could fix it within two hours. Despite McMullen’s objections, his superior overruled him and gave the helicopter the green light to take off with a faulty air compressor. Less than an hour later, the helicopter returned to where it had taken off.
The following day, McMullen’s superior was transferred away from the squadron as a result of the incident.
“I'm all by myself. I have nobody that I can go to. So just think about it. I’m 23 years old. I come from the hills of Pennsylvania just like you do,” McMullen said. “What do you do? You have to think with your head, and you have to think with your heart.”
“Keep that in mind. You’re out there all by your lonesome. You have to make that decision. And it’s for the President of the United States.”
The ceremony concluded with the veterans introducing themselves to the schoolchildren as a microphone was passed among them. Some of the veterans took the time to tell the students not to take their struggles for granted, and that someday, the time may come where the next generation will have to defend freedom as they themselves had to.
“Yesterday was an Election Day. A lot of countries can’t say that,” said Gene Wise of Fenelton, who served in the Coast Guard for nine years. “And it’s because of the service that we did, and the future service that you young people will do to maintain the freedom that we enjoy every single day. Please do not take it for granted.”
