Oklahoma veterans receive thanks for service to country
Tinker Air Logistics Center commander visits VA Medical Center

Edward Dickson knew little about wood carving until a few months ago.

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IF YOU GO

Veterans Day events

Oklahoma City

• 45th Infantry Division Museum, 2145 NE 36: 10 a.m. The museum will hold its annual Veterans Day ceremony, with military and civilian color guards, the 145th Army Band and a keynote address from Maj. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, the state’s adjutant general.

• Town Village Retirement Community, 13000 N May Ave.: 3 p.m. Town Village will honor 24 World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans at an afternoon ceremony. Several will speak, including Ben Little, a prisoner of war during WWII. The veterans’ military memorabilia and medals will be on display in the lobby.

• The Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N Laird Ave.: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center is offering free admission to all who have served or are currently serving on active duty in the military, reserve forces and the National Guard. An exhibit in one of the galleries traces Oklahoma’s military history from the 1830s to the present. The exhibits also include Medals of Honor awarded to Jack Montgomery and Ruben Rivers.

Norman

• Reaves Park, 2501 S Jenkins Ave.: 11 a.m. A new memorial honoring Cleveland County veterans will be dedicated. Events include a helicopter flyover and a keynote speech from Brig. Gen. Myles Deering, the commander of the 45th Infantry Brigade, which recently returned from Iraq.

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With the help of volunteers at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dickson, a U.S. Navy veteran, has carved his first cane, something he’s needed to help him walk.

"They take really good care of me around here,” he said. "I’ve been coming here for years, and I feel like it helps me.”

Maj. Gen. Loren Reno, commander of the Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base, honored wounded veterans at the hospital during an early Veterans Day program Monday.

He said they have left a tradition of honor for others in the military to follow.

"You have left a legacy of valor,” Reno said. "We are so proud of you.”

Dickson served the Navy from 1961 to 1966, but his injuries didn’t come from battle.

They came much later in civilian life. Still, Dickson said he finds support and physical therapy he needs in the weekly arts and crafts program at the hospital.

Al Heberlein, a former Marine who fought in World War II, has not only come to the medical center for his physical injury, but he and his wife have been longtime volunteers there since 1957.

"We worked in pharmacy for some time before it all got computerized,” Heberlein said.

He said while Veterans Day is special to him, he also thinks of his comrades often.

"Throughout the year you remember them so much,” he said. "Especially with the news of the war, you think of them every day.”

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