The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 19, 1999, Page 6, Image 6
Veterans Day bridges generation gap
by Jessica Barfield
The Carolina Reporter
Since the early days of war, heroes
have been created and stories have
been told. Every year, these heroes are
recognized on Veterans Day.
Columbia honors veterans each year
with one of the largest Veterans Day
parades in the nation. At these parades,
people can meet the heroes themselves
and listen to the stories they have to tell.
Raymond Lown and his wife, Vir
ginia, have been going to Veterans Day
parades since 1945.
As they watched the annual pa
rade make its way down Main Street
on Nov. 11, their love and respect for
those who have served in the military
was evident. If they weren’t applaud
ing parade marchers, the couple waved
small American flags they’d brought
with them.
When military units marched by,
Raymond sometimes stood at attention
to salute them. Raymond, 77, served two
and-a-half years in the Navy in both Eu
rope and the Pacific.
Virginia and Raymond were high
school sweethearts and married on Christ
mas Eve while Raymond was home on
a three-day pass. Their situation wasn’t
ideal, but they made it through and have
been married for 56 years.
“It was rough, but we accepted it
back then,” Raymond said.
Both are active in the American Le
gion, and honoring the nation’s veter
ans is important to them because many
of their family members have been in the
service.
Raymond’s family received a procla
mation from the governor because he and
three of his brothers served simultane
ously in the Navy.
“My mother was honored for a four
star family,” he said. “That’s one star
for each son who served, and we all came
back in one piece.”
Virginia's father served in Wbrld War
I and died shortly after she was bom. She
went to France over the summer to visit
areas where her father had been stationed
“We got to walk on the ground that
I
he walked, and they had a monument set
up,” Virginia said. “I never really knew
him, so it was quite an experience for us
to go.”
The Lowns weren’t alone in hon
oring the nation’s veterans. Les Edwards,
37, took the day off to bring his 2-year
old daughter to the parade.
Because his father served in World
War II, Veterans Day is always an im
portant day for his family. With every
military vehicle or marching band that
passed, he bent down to explain to his
daughter, Jennifer, what was going on
in a way that she might understand.
“Look, Jennifer,” he said. “Those
are people that had to go away to fight.
Don’t they look good with those blue
coats on? They look nice.”
One of the many veterans riding by
looked at Edwards and said, “Thanks
for coming out.”
Edwards smiled back at him and said,
“No, thank you.”
“I’m just here to honor the veter
ans,” Edwards said. “We wouldn’t be here
without them.”
Sitting near Gervais Street to watch
the parade was Felicia Osby, 38, a vet
eran of the Army. The Atlanta native was
stationed in Washington, Indiana and Ko
rea and continues to stress an apprecia
tion for the military since she left the ser
vice almost 20 years ago.
Osby, head of the preschool de
partment at Hicks Child Care Center,
brought her 15 students to the parade.
“We’re trying to teach them about
veterans and all they’ve done for us,” she
said. “Some of them have mothers, fa
thers or family members in the military.
We’ve been talking about it a lot, and I
thought it was important for us to bring
them down here to see who we’ve
been talking about.”
Wesley Bales, 43, used the parade
to make a political statement.
Bales, a divorce attorney and regis
tered pharmacist, sat near the comer of
Washington and Main streets for the pa
rade’s entirety and held a sign that read,
“This vet says: Hang tough, only 436 days
I
ofKlintontogo!”
Bales said many veterans were salut
ing him and giving him the thumbs up
because he spelled Clinton with a “K,”
which he said was the Communist way
of writing the president’s name.
Bales, who served in the Army for
more than four years, said his sign and
presence were an attempt to speak for
the members of the military who couldn’t
do so themselves.
“I think that a lot of people in the
military can’t express themselves because
they’re under orders not to say anything”
he said. “They’ll get court-martialed.”
Bales said he thinks that 75 percent
of the military hate Clinton. As yet an
other veteran left his place in the parade
to come and shake his hand, Bales said,
“Clinton’s misusing our military. They’re
underfunded, and he’s demoralized them.
Bill Clinton looks at the military as sort
of a social experiment.
“I question his patriotism. I’m just
here expressing my First Amendment
rights.”
Jacquelyn Poston The Carolina Reporter
Veterans in Columbia’s Veterans Day parade Nov. 11 dressed in World War II military uniforms to ride
- in an Army jeep. Some soldiers dressed in modem uniforms, while others chose to wear uniforms
from the era in which they served.
WLTX looks
to create
new image
BY NOELLE ORR
The Carolina Reporter
A Columbia TV station is hoping
to create a better image by renovating
its old look.
WLTX-Channel 19, a CBS affil
iate, has recently completed a makeover
of its news program in an attempt to
present a better image of the station.
“What brought it about is all of
us at the station taking a good look at
who we are and what we do and how
it looks and what works and what
doesn’t and deciding that we wanted
to be better,” news director Larry Au
dassaid
l ne maKeover began last year witn
improvements to WLTX’s systems and
procedures shortly after mass media gi
ant Gannett Corp. took over the station.
“For several months, we’ve been
looking at the way we do journalism,
the way we do broadcast journal
ism,” Audas said.
Improving the inside of the news
coverage was the initial stage of mak
ing a better News 19. Audas said a bet
terlooking News 19 was the second
piece of the puzzle.
“The second part is what you see
now in terms of the set, graphics, a new
logo and we have new music and a new
announcer,” Audas said.
News 19 has also added a news
cast from 5 to 7 a.m. Its format lets
viewers find the news they want dur
ing any 15-minute newscast, Audas
said.
In addition, weather personality
Darci Strickland is studying to be a me
teorologist. Strickland will be only the
second meteorologist at News 19.
Along with Strickland, many peo
ple on the air and behind the scenes
are working to make the news program
better, Audas said.
unicro
■ Gas prices up
The average price per gallon of self-serve
regular gasoline is up 21 cents, to $1.14.
That compares with an average 93 cents per
gallon for Thanksgiving 1998, the motor
club said Thursday.
■Che Carolina
Reporter
Publisher
Ronald Farrar
Reporters
Allison Aiken
Jessica Barfield
Gina DeMillo
Kristin Freestate
Ann Kennedy
Israel Kloss
Kate Maxwell
Todd Money
Noelle Orr
Jacquelyn Poston
Jeff Stensland
Adrienne Thompson
Managing Editors
juason urennan
Jeff Romig
Editors
Shana Bowman
David Cloninger
Rebecca Cronican
Ashley Mathias
Ryan Mosier
Cara Pellatt
Faculty Advisers
Scott Farrand
Keith Kenney
Pat McNeely
Henry Price
Jennifer Wood
The Carolina Reporter
senior semester students pro
vide The Gamecock with week
ly Metro & State coverage. For
Metro & State news tips, please
call (803) 777-3307 or (803)
777-3281. To fax tips, please
call (803) 777-3248. Letters to
the editor regarding Metro &
State coverage should be
directed to The Gamecock, RH
333, or gcked@sc.edu.
The Carolina Reporter Online
can be found on the World
Wide Web at
www.jour.sc.edu/reporter/h6me.html
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