Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame...

Last week, I had the extreme honor of being inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame ( Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame 2014 Inductees) as a member of the Class of 2014.

My son, Doug, drove all the way from NY to be there with my wife, Pam and me.

The Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame Class of 2014.

I am receiving my plaque from Ohio Lt. Governor, Mary Taylor (r).  Looking on is the Director of the Ohio  Department of Veterans Services, Tim Gorrell (l).

I am sure that there are a whole bunch of people who have never heard of this organization before now, and I must admit that I only heard of it a little while ago. Per the write-up on the Ohio Department of Veterans Affairs website:
"The Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame has inducted more than 400 veterans since its inception in 1992. Each year, an executive committee, made up of representatives from Ohio's veterans organizations, selects up to 20 inductees from applications received from across the state and nation. Our inductees are leaders in a variety of areas including business, entertainment and education. Most importantly though, they all have made significant impacts on their communities.
Inductees into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame served their country honorably in a branch of military service and continued to serve their communities, state and nation after discharge. We are proud of the accomplishments of our many members and hope you will enjoy learning more about them in the pages and pictures that follow."

Being curious about what all this consisted of, I went back through some of the earlier classes of inductees to see who all might have gone before me.  It seems that there were six Ohio military veterans who were later elected to be President of the United States.  All 330 Medal of Honor recipients from Ohio have also been inducted into the Hall.  There are a number of astronauts (including John Glenn and Nancy J. Currie Sherlock -- who was a student of ours at Troy High School when I was there), and an assortment of other politicians and movie stars (Paul Newman, Bob Hope, etc.).  But then, there are the real Heroes -- they men and women 99% of us have never heard of who found a way of helping, honoring, supporting Veterans in their own quiet way.  These are the stories I would encourage you to read if you have the time to visit the Hall of Fame web site.

There is also another site, the  Ohio Military Hall of Fame (Ohio Military Hall of Fame)  that you can visit to see the classes of those honored for their Military service.  These are service members who were inducted into their Hall of Fame based on Valor while in service and their induction is solely based on their military achievements.  I know a few of these gentlemen (Mike DeHart, Dennis Thatcher) and I can certainly attest to their valor in the service.

The induction event is actually spread over two days.  On Wednesday evening they have a dinner which was hosted by the Hall of Fame Foundation for inductees, family members and current members of the Hall of Fame.  This is where we got to talk to the other inductees and listen to their stories of their service and why it was that they were being inducted.  As I said before, if you want to learn about ordinary, everyday heroes, just read some of the bios of the inductees over the years.  I told the audience about our Vets to D.C. trips and how rewarding it was to see the Vets go there to see (and in some instances "confront") their Memorial.  I also told them that I may be the "inductee" but the true "honorees" are the members of the Vets top DC committee, the Vets themselves and the good people of Sidney and Shelby County who support and pay for these trips.  I received some speaking invitations to come address some groups who might be interested in doing something similar in their counties.

Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor, who gave the main address for the induction,  had one of the best lines I have ever heard when it comes to honoring heroes.  She said we shouldn't look to movie stars or to rock stars, certainly not politicians or sports figures -- we need only look at people like those inducted into this Hall over the years for role models and life examples because they are the real heroes.  

So again -- go to the web site and read about some of the inductees -- inductees from all of the classes.  Some of the greatest chapters of our history have been written by these people.  You will not be disappointed.  

One of the most recurring questions I have asked myself over the years is Why am I here?  What is it that God has in mind for me to do?  I'm not sure I have the answer yet, and probably won't have it for a while. Lots of smarter people then me have worked on this question for a long time without coming up with a clear answer either.  Sometimes I would tell myself that being the best husband, father and person I could be was all there was to it.  Then sometimes I say maybe I was specifically put here to coach and maybe influence one or two of the wrestlers I once had.  Maybe it was to make an impression on one of my students to motivate them to go beyond.  Perhaps it was to mentor and lead one of my troops or young officers to something big, something special.  And then I thought maybe it is to help to make life a bit brighter for a few days for some of our Vets.  I am not sure any of these qualify as the final answer.  Guess I'll just keep working on it.  Thoreau probably had the right idea when he said: "One is not born into the world to do everything, but to do something."  So yes, I guess I'll keep plodding along.

The secret of happiness is to find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.  (Anon.)

Hooah