A salute to service: Amarillo celebrates veterans, Marine Corps birthday
Among a busy weekend of Veterans Day events in Amarillo were the Amarillo VA Health Care System’s 16th annual Welcome Home event on Saturday and a celebration of the U.S. Marine Corps' 248th birthday hosted by the Roan Creek Detachment #992 on Friday.
The Welcome Home event featured a return to the Rex Baxter Building at the Tristate Fairgrounds for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Food, family fun, door prizes and multiple organizations were on hand to give veterans information about resources for them in the area.
Dr. Rodney Gonzalez, the Amarillo VA director, said this event is designed to thank veterans for their service and to let them know the services available to them.
“This is a way to really thank our veterans because we know that not every veteran received the same welcome home especially those from the Vietnam War era,” Gonzalez said. “When I returned from my deployment in Iraq, I walked through an airport to people applauding and wanting to shake my hand but not every veteran saw that in all of our eras. This is a way for our community to come out and support them and welcome them home for all they do for our great nation."
At the celebration of the Marine Corps birthday, featured speaker retired Sgt. Major Harold G. Overstreet spoke to those in attendance about his service and the importance of Veterans Day.
Overstreet served in the Marine Corps for 29 years and in 1991, was named as the 12th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and retired in 1995.
“Most of the veterans here today not only did they serve but they continue to serve as in continue to take care of those veterans out there,” Overstreet said. “You do not have to look back very far. The freedoms that everybody enjoys were paid for by the veterans before us. I think we need to stand up and appreciate those who came before us.”
Overstreet quoted the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. John Lejeune, who served from 1890 to 1929. The Marine base Camp Lejeune is named after the former commandant.
“All the things that we have done, we ride on the shoulders of those that preceded us in the Corps,”
Continuing, Overstreet remarked about standing on the accomplishments of those who went before this generation.
“It’s the same thing with all the veterans; we are riding on the coattails of all that preceded us,” Overstreet said. “He said that the reason we did all that is for our country and so that our citizens might enjoy peace and security.”
Overstreet said he could not say enough about those who made this all possible for him to serve.
“I cannot thank those guys enough for what they did for the liberties that we all enjoy,” he said. “Most people do not really appreciate that until they go to some other country. We should take pride that we live in a country that everyone wants to live in.”
The service of his uncles in World War II and his family’s patriotism had a great effect on Overstreet, which gave him the inspiration to join the military in 1966.
“Once I got in the Marines Corps, it created an insatiable appetite to learn as much as I could about being a Marine and its great history,” Overstreet said. “It’s imperative to know the history of those that made this country what it is today.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Salute to service Amarillo celebrates veterans, Marine Corps birthday
