BEDFORD— On Thursday, June 6th, Lawrence County Veteran Affairs Officer Brad Bough hosted an anniversary celebration of D-Day at Golden Corral. Many veterans were in attendance, including Mayor Sam Craig, Sheriff Greg Day, and a representative of Congresswoman Erin Houchin, who couldn’t be in attendance.
Retired Technical Sargent James Lee Hutchinson was in attendance and addressed the group who gathered for a celebration and a free breakfast provided by Golden Corral. Hutchinson spoke about the events that transpired on June 6th, 1948, including the state of respect for veterans in 2024.
Addressing the veterans, he said: “We have to organize. They are forgetting us, our organizations: the Legion, the VFW, disabled veterans, we’re not being recognized. We’re not getting all of the benefits of the government because they know that we vote all the time. We always vote. So we’re still getting a bit of it, but we’re not being recognized locally, and we’re not being recognized by the military men who refuse to join an organization. If you’re too tight to spend 35 or 40 dollars to join an organization that fights for you, there’s a problem there.” Hutchinson highlighted the importance of veterans organizing frequently throughout the breakfast.
The host, Brad Bough, commented to WBIW: “It’s important that we remember the history of our veterans and the sacrifices that each one of them made. As the song says, “All gave some, but some gave all.” That’s what we have to remember: Every veteran made a sacrifice, but some of them made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Hutchinson also made additional remarks: “I’m so happy to celebrate D-Day here at the Golden Corral this morning with a group of many interested veterans in various wars and warfare combat and guests also. I simply revealed some of the stories I’ve written, some of the stories I collected from various veterans that were at D-Day and gave background on what they did. Of course, they are all past away, but they were local men, they were Medora, Orleans, Bedford, Bloomington. I then interviewed at the Bedford North Lawrence High School years ago, all the local veterans, and then of course the general situation of World War II. It was our war for freedom, the freedom we’ve enjoyed for so many years and the freedom that is again threatened by our invasion. So I’ve been glad to talk to people. Sorry about Representative Houchin, she couldn’t make it but she promised she will be back. My call is this: I recorded the stories of 242 different veterans in combat and in training, unusual stories, at least 50 local men, my project is to continue to tell people World War II history. The history that determined what kind of government we’d have for the next 80 years. I was very happy of the crowd that came out this morning, and for Golden Corral to host our breakfast. And I will continue writing stories about the men, the boys, who fought in war too. Thank you very much.”
