Colonel Lee G. Hudson, Commander of the Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) in Richmond, Kentucky, was a featured speaker at the 13th Annual Veterans Day Celebration conducted by Rockcastle County Middle School (RCMS) students and staff in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky.
The school, comprised of nearly 800 sixth-through-eighth-grade students, is widely known for its annual celebration honoring veterans. In addition to school-wide patriotic decorations, the students participated in activities that included giving school tours, serving the veterans during the kick-off luncheon reception, providing choir and band music, and participating in multiple veteran-themed competitions, including an essay contest sponsored by American Legion Post 71 and a poster art contest judged by the local Daughters of the American Revolution.
Following the luncheon reception, more than 100 local veterans were welcomed into the school gymnasium with a standing ovation by some 1,000 appreciative students, families and friends, where the stirring ceremony began with the presentation of the colors by the RCMS JROTC Color Guard and the singing of our national anthem by the RCMS choir.
Following his introduction by Kathy Bobo, RCMS sixth-grade social studies teacher and wife of BGAD Police Chief Richard Bobo, Colonel Hudson talked about going beyond celebrating our veterans.
"I'm here to join you in recognizing and celebrating the men and women who sit before you today. You know them as well as you know your grandpas, grandmas, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles -- because they are. Today, whether related or not, we're all family.
"Beyond deserving of being honored as heroes, these men and women can be -- and should be -- recognized and utilized as valuable living history resources, again, because they are. Because of who they are, what they've learned through experience and what they've sacrificed, we all need to reach out to engage and embrace them while we recognize and honor their service to our country. They have much they can teach us, most of which cannot be found in textbooks. They truly are the best of us -- that fraction of one percent of Americans who sign blank checks with they're lives to the American people and our way of life.
"Many of the veterans here today have been recognized by some as members of 'the greatest generation,' that group who carried our country through the dark days of WWII. But I can tell you from being here today, from walking the decorated halls and gymnasium, to meeting with the students and staff and participating in this ceremony, that the commitment to serve our country is still strong and that the future of great generations of veterans is alive and well in Rockcastle County Middle School.
"On a related note, be it military, law enforcement or emergency services, we live in communities centered around professional and dedicated public servants who put themselves in harm's way on a daily basis to protect and serve. Sadly, today, we say farewell to one of our own in Madison County, Richmond Police Detective Daniel Ellis, who was killed in the line of duty and is being laid to rest in nearby Adair County. Today, we honor and remember his service and sacrifice as well, as symbolized by displaying his badge number 457."
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