Life

Rotary Club's videos honor veterans

By Bill Moss, Published: November 3, 2013

The Hendersonville Rotary Club is observing Veterans Day with a series of video profiles that highlight Rotarians' military service in a broad way, including a son who followed his father's example, a longtime teacher in military schools abroad, a combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War and an Army draftee who served as a conscientious objector.

The salute to veterans includes video profiles of six members that will air during the weeks leading up to a Nov. 12 program when all the club will show all the videos.

Here are links to the interviews:

Ron Metzger and John Orlin interviews:

Hendersonville Rotary veterans

Steve Johnson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=F1Ws0WC3ihE

Lewis Lees:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OugVdcc24Tg

Jim Finch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=X7aym3NpqHw

David Cook, Executive Director of Interfaith Assistance Ministry, told how his family background made service inevitable. David Cook video

The son of a World War II veteran of Pacific theater combat, Cook did not meet his father until he was 4 years old.
"I'm proud of my father's service," he said. "He didn't talk much about it. It was a pretty harrowing experience."
During the Vietnam War, while Cook was working on a masters degree in social work, "the inevitability of service" ensured "that I was going to have to do something to serve in the military," he said in the video, made by Chris Thornhill.
Cook accepted a direct commission as a captain in the U.S. Army and went on to serve for 22 years.
"It really impacted how I am and what kind of person I am today," he said. "I'm working with volunteers today, in the Interfaith Assistance Ministry, because I served with volunteers in the Army Community Service Program at a number of different bases and learned the value of volunteerism and what it means to our community and to those who are in need of service and support."

Cook helped draft military family policy for the Army and then the Department of Defense and led an inter-branch team that wrote the Pentagon's first statement of family policy.
"Veterans Day to me," he said, "means remembering — remembering what my father did, what so many people did through the years to fight for our freedom, to sacrifice their lives for freedom, or to sacrifice part of their lives in service to their country."
During the Nov. 12 program Rotarian Myra Watkins will sing the National Anthem and four keynote speakers will describe their experiences in and out of uniform. All veterans in the club will be given an opportunity to tell their branch of service and when they served. The program was planned and organized by Spence Campbell and Craig Kirkpatrick.