Winchester honors veterans at new memorial 

On a beau­ti­ful autumn morn­ing, a crowd of about 100 gath­ered to hon­or vet­er­ans at the new World War II/Korean War Memorial on East Broadway. 

Dee Birkes, vice pres­i­dent of the Clark County Veterans Council, opened the Veterans Day cer­e­mo­ny at 11 a.m. on this sun­lit Nov. 11, with tem­per­a­tures approach­ing 60 degrees. Birkes offered brief com­ments about a new Habitat for Humanity pro­gram to pro­vide homes for home­less vet­er­ans, then intro­duced Mayor JoEllen Reed. Reed wel­comed the crowd and offered thanks to all vet­er­ans for their service.

A prayer was led by Deputy City Clerk Dianna Reed, sec­re­tary of the Veterans Council, fol­lowed by the National Anthem, sung by Lyla Smith. 

Birkes then returned to the podi­um to lead the atten­dees in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Barbara Disney, KSDAR his­to­ri­an for the Hart Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, read the American’s Creed, accom­pa­nied by those attend­ing the proceedings. 

Circuit Judge David Ward, a retired Army colonel and mem­ber of the local Veterans Council, intro­duced the guest keynote speak­er, retired Col. Joseph A. Tirone. 

With 30 years of active ser­vice, includ­ing as chief of staff of the Joint Munitions Command, Tirone is orig­i­nal­ly from Port Chester, N.Y., and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming. He is the hold­er of two master’s degrees, one from the U.S. Air War College. 

In acknowl­edg­ing the con­tri­bu­tions of all vet­er­ans, he not­ed that only about one per­cent of Americans are cur­rent­ly serv­ing in the mil­i­tary while there are about 18 mil­lion vet­er­ans still living. 

Tirone is cur­rent­ly the vol­un­teer direc­tor of Jason’s Box, an orga­ni­za­tion which works exclu­sive­ly with severe­ly wound­ed com­bat vet­er­ans and ser­vice mem­bers. He briefly not­ed the ser­vice of mil­i­tary vet­er­ans through all of America’s wars, includ­ing those fought on American soil, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. 

Rachel Jeffries sang “Travelin’ Soldier,”  accom­pa­nied by her hus­band, Rob Jeffries, on guitar. 

Mary Jo Hatchett then took the podi­um to explain the Habitat for Humanity pro­gram, which is coor­di­nat­ing with the Clark County Veterans Council to pro­vide hous­ing for home­less veterans. 

Hatchett is the direc­tor of Clark and Madison Habitat for Humanity. She not­ed that there are 32,000 vet­er­ans in Kentucky fac­ing hous­ing inse­cu­ri­ty. She empha­sized that Habitat does not give peo­ple hous­es but works with qual­i­fied fam­i­lies to pro­vide low-inter­est mort­gages of zero to one per­cent. She men­tioned that six homes will be con­struct­ed by Habitat on Lincoln Street, on lots donat­ed by the City of Winchester. 

To close out the cer­e­mo­ny, Sgt. Caleb Goodrich, chap­lain of the Winchester Police Department, led the atten­dees in prayer while the American and POW/MIA flags flut­tered in a crisp breeze atop the flag­pole at the memorial. 

The American’s Creed 

I believe in the United States of America
as a gov­ern­ment of the peo­ple,
by the peo­ple, for the peo­ple; 
whose just pow­ers are derived  
from the con­sent of the gov­erned,  
a democ­ra­cy in a repub­lic,  
a sov­er­eign Nation of many sov­er­eign States;  
a per­fect union, one and insep­a­ra­ble;  
estab­lished upon those prin­ci­ples of free­dom,  
equal­i­ty, jus­tice, and human­i­ty  
for which American patri­ots  
sac­ri­ficed their lives and fortunes. 

I there­fore believe it is my duty to my coun­try  
to love it,  
to sup­port its Constitution,  
to obey its laws,  
to respect its flag 
 and to defend it against all enemies. 

Written in 1917. Accepted by the United States House of Representatives on April 3, 1918