CC Young honors veterans with annual event

By Michelle Metzger

For CC Young, Veterans Day has become more than a holiday on the calendar. For the past 18 years, the CC Young team has gone to great lengths to honor and recognize the U.S. veterans who call the CC Young campus home. This year, CC Young will host 55 resident veterans with nine days of festivities to ensure that those who served — both residents and staff — understand the deep appreciation and respect CC Young has for them. 

“We are proud of our men and women who have played an important part in defending our freedoms and want to recognize and pay tribute to their service and sacrifice,” says CC Young Chief Executive Officer Russell Crews. 

“This is a labor of love for us, and a great deal of thoughtful planning has gone into this year’s celebration. We invite the community to come to CC Young and help us honor our CC Young military service men and women and recognize a veteran they may know.”

The CC Young veterans photo gallery began in 2006 when a resident, and veteran, asked other veterans for their pictures and brief outlines of their military experience. The Wall of Honor features CC Young veterans’ professional photos, their service photos, and biographies. The Memorial Wall acknowledges deceased veterans whose spouses are current CC Young residents. The installation of the Wall of Honor and Memorial Wall takes staff and volunteers roughly two full days to complete. It is one component of several patriotic activities commemorating the CC Young men and women who served in America’s armed forces. Both are on exhibit in The Point during November (pictured).

New this year is the Vietnam Era Veterans Pinning Ceremony, which will honor the 36 CC Young Vietnam veterans who served during the 20-year span of the Vietnam conflict from Nov. 1, 1955 – May 15, 1975. The pinning ceremony will be led by Diana Mason, PhD, ACSF, Ex Officio member of the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame, on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 1:30 p.m. in The Point Auditorium on the CC Young campus.

“The Vietnam era veterans came home to a country that did not give the same warm welcome home as other military servicemen received,” said Crews. “This recognition ceremony will surround these veterans with the deep appreciation they deserve for their call to duty, and honorably recognize them and their families for their sacrifices.”

 The celebration events will also include the Veterans Day Flag Ceremony at 3 p.m. with guest speaker Gary Steele, president of the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame, CC Young staff veteran Honor Guard conducting the presentation of the colors, the playing of taps and a military medley performed by the CC Young choir recognizing all U.S. military branches.

 Closing the week on Friday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. will be a presentation by 102-year-old World War II bomber pilot John “Lucky” Luckadoo, who served as a pilot and copilot with the 100th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force and is the subject of the story chronicling his service, “Damn Lucky” by Kevin Maurer. 

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