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Show Hilltop 0 4..r HILLTOP TIMES TIMES February 26, 2015 Spouse From 7 To attend the Spouse Reunion 'Training on March 9, register by calling the A&FRC at 801-7774681. The class will be in in the center, in Building 150. "Any Total Force member and/or spouse can attend regardless of a deployment, extended TDY, or remote tour. Because we all fall into a deployment situation at one point or another, we do not restrict this briefing to only those on a current deployment," said Morgan. According to Rupert, "Whether it's the first or 10th time you've taken the course, there will always be something to learn. It helps lower unrealistic expectations. Also, each deployment happens at different stages of life: no children to different stages of children's lives, and it's good to take the time to be ready as a couple to face the changes that will happen and to consider together the helpful/necessary actions to make the process smoother. "I think it would be great for couples to attend this training together. In my experience, my husband and I have been to these briefings at separate times. I know that separately, while we may absorb similar key points, we also connect with dif- ferent topics and attending together may open up more lines of communication in areas otherwise not considered by our spouse." Another resource for those returning from a deployment, or who have an upcoming deployment in the near future, and their immediate families is the Team Hill AEF Retreat Program. The retreat will take place April 17-19 at Wolf Creek Resort in Ogden Valley. All meals, lodging, and activities are free. Crafts, games, and various resilience sessions also will be offered free of charge for families. The whole weekend will focus on family connections and resiliency. Register by April 3 by contacting your First Sergeant, or call the Chapel with questions at 801-777-2106. "The military has a unique impact on families. We want our families to be resilient so that they not only sustain but succeed through the demands of our military's mission," said Morgan, who also relayed a quote from Jody Coleman, A&FRC Community Readiness Specialist: "Our aim for families is to reduce struggles and times of disconnect and increase the joy and peace of reuniting, and for them to celebrate the fact that both spouses have grown and can be a better family because of it." MITCH SHAW/Hilltop Times correspondent House Bill 275 would rename the existing portions of 1-84 within Utah as the "Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway" and require that the Utah Department of Transportation designate it as such on future state highway maps. Vietnam From 7 From 9 that was in January. So I went into training in January, and in March I became a guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," he said. Then-Spc. 4th Class John Ranum was on the relief (a relief is the shift a guard is assigned) that Moore joined, and described Moore as a "straight trooper." "He had to be good. Well, we all had to be pretty good, but ... he was exceptional," Ranum said of Moore. Moore wasn't nervous for his first shift of sentinel duty because the training had prepared him well. However, he remembered it being a little overwhelming. That first crowd felt like the largest crowd of the day to Moore. He added that stepping onto the mat for the first time was a "great feeling." He was unaware he was the first black soldier on a Tomb Guard relief until an article came out in Ebony magazine in September 1961. The Tomb Guard reliefs were organized differently during the 1960s, with 12 soldiers on duty as sentinels. There were three reliefs, Ranum explained, with four men on each relief working in 24hour shifts. Ranum said the more difficult times to walk the mat were at night, or in bad weather. "It was easier with the people around, because if there was no one there — which was very rare, maybe the first hour in the morning — you had to be just as straight as (with) the people there, because you never knew," he said. "Every day was different, Rocky Maintain every walk was different, and it was just very interesting to watch people, although we had to look straight ahead practically all the time. It was interesting to see the effect the place has on people and sometimes you could just tell that someone ... had a real interest and was nostalgic about being there. Very moving." Ranum and Moore served on the same relief for about six months and grew very close. One day, during the height of summer, Moore recalled relieving Ranum from his post. It had been raining off and on all day, so Moore had gone on duty with a rain jacket. The moment he stepped on the mat, it stopped raining. When he came off the mat after his half-hour walk, he took the jacket off. On his next walk, he went out without the rain jacket, and sure enough, it started raining. Things went on this way over the course of the day: Whenever Moore was prepared for rain, it was sunny; when he dressed for clear skies, it drizzled. Ranum spent the whole shift laughing at him, like any good friend would. Moore remembers soldiers talking about being uncomfortable while on duty at night in a cemetery, but he's not sure why it made some people nervous. When the moon was out, the white marble of the amphitheater reflected the light, making the area extremely bright. "You could see a chipmunk," Moore remembered. Proud to serve Moore was drafted into the Army during a tumultuous period for civil rights, when racial discrimination was rampant. However, he said he didn't experience that % in the Army, and he got along well with his fellow soldiers. "To tell you the truth, I considered myself blessed because I didn't have any problems whatsoever. No problems, no problems at all," he said. He credits that blessing to being around other good people. After Moore's duty as a Tomb sentinel was over, he went on to the Noncommissioned Officers Academy and graduated with honors. He went home to Cleveland after his twoyear service requirement ended. He lost touch with Ranum, Cosby and other members of his relief until 1998, when he went to a reunion of the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The society, which is a 501(3)(c) organization with the goal of protecting and enhancing the image of the Tomb and the soldiers who stand guard, was founded by Cosby and four former sentinels. Moore hadn't seen anyone from his Army days in 37 years, and had to reschedule another family function to attend the society's reunion. When his wife, Joyce, found out about the reunion, she was insistent that they attend, Moore said. "So we went down and we just had a fantastic time, you know, and it was strange, and then younger guys that had been guards down there, as soon as they heard my name, they knew who I was, and I was kind of baffled," he said. So many people wanted to take pictures with him and knew his name that he had to ask what was going on. He discovered he was part of the Tomb Guard test; soldiers had to know who the first African American sentinel was in order to become sentinels themselves. Moore has been to as many biannual reunions with the society as possible, and when he goes, new sentinels tell him that he "paved the way," but Moore said he is more proud of them than they are of him. EDITOR'S NOTE: In 1997, Army Sgt. Danyell E. Wilson became the first female African-American Tomb Guard. 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Information (801)486-5174 with this ad $70 haircut with free shampoo. 00 Door Buster OLIN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION ;0) Military/Police and Fireman Discount s, 223 ..99 for 1000 rds 22 Ammo CHM MI nI1970 QUI M &MD KIOD17173119 EP GUNS, KNIVES, AMMO & SURVIVAL GEAR CONCEALED AWEAPON PERMITYCLIASS Fawson said the bill has no financial implications and that signage along the corridor would be replaced as it gets old, under the state's normal procedures. "If we wanted to expedite replacing the signage, we would probably look to do some fundraisers," he said. "Some of the veterans have already expressed interest in that." Several Ogden-area Vietnam veterans spoke on behalf of the bill in a House Transportation Standing Committee meeting this month. The House passed the bill on to the Senate on Feb. 24. "We'd be very honored," said Tom Montez, a recipient of two Purple Hearts for his service during the Vietnam War. "It would allow those that travel on the highway to understand that their freedom was paid for by those that fought in that unpopular war. They live in a free society that was paid for by the blood and guts (of veterans)." Ogden resident Dennis Howland serves as ME* *** * * * * * * * *** * - Tomb president of the Northern Utah chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. He told the committee that an average of 390 Vietnam veterans die every day across the United States, so honoring those who are still alive becomes more pressing with each passing day. "It's important to do things like this to acknowledge their service before they are just a voice of the past," he said. "This is Utah's oppurtunity to say 'We won't forget you. Thank you for your service.' " Maughan said he hopes road trippers from all over the country will take note of what he and his fellow soldiers did. "The hope is that anyone traveling along 1-84, from Echo (Utah) all the way to Portland (Ore.) will see the (Vietnam veterans) signage," he said. "And that should spark some conversations about Vietnam and all of us who served there." According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 28,000 Utahns served in Vietnam and more than 50,000 Vietnam veterans call Utah home today. 14/14-44 (ttfr ¥4441.%e444 M 44/40414., 2465 N Main St Sunset UT 84015 #10 801-896-1506 |