Remembering Veterans in Clark County

As you drive into the Winchester Cemetery, it’s hard to miss a red and gold plaque that stands out among all the monuments. In gold lettering, the name at the top of the plaque says “Harold Glenn Epperson.” Below the name is the gold-colored emblem for the U-S Marine Corps. And at the bottom of the plaque in small letters is “USMC 1st Battalion 6th Marine 2nd Marine Division.” Private First-Class Harold Glenn Epperson is one of many young men who did not come home from serving in World War II.

Another large blue plaque nearby describes what PFC Epperson did on June 25th, 1944, on the Pacific Ocean island of Saipan. While under attack from Japanese soldiers, PFC Epperson manned a machine gun emplacement. The blue plaque reads, “Suddenly a Japanese soldier, assumed to be dead, sprang up and hurled a powerful hand grenade into the emplacement. Determined to save his comrades, PFC Epperson unhesitatingly chose to sacrifice himself and, diving upon the deadly missile, absorbed the shattering violence of the exploding charge in his own body.”

For that bravery, PFC Epperson received the Medal of Honor, the highest honor awarded for bravery. He was a few weeks from his 21st birthday.

PFC Epperson is among the many veterans in Clark County, deceased and alive, who are remembered during the week of Veterans Day. 83-year-old Jerry Cecil lives near the Winchester Cemetery.

Colonel Cecil served 31 years in the U-S Army. He graduated from the U-S Military Academy at West Point in 1966 and served as a platoon leader during the Vietnam War.

Cecil says it didn’t take long in Vietnam to experience combat and the loss of fellow soldiers. “Four days later, we’d come into a night position at night. Next morning at dawn, we got attacked. Well, I had two classmates that came in on the same airplane with me on Sunday the 18th, and they were killed in an ambush four days later. So that’s the life expectancy of a lieutenant and infantry.”

On November 11th, 1967, Lieutenant Cecil and his platoon were on a search and destroy mission when they met the enemy. That began a seven-hour battle. What did Lt. Cecil do on that day? Sitting in the living room of his Winchester home now fifty-nine years later, I read back to him the Army report that described his actions.

“His platoon was leading the unit’s maneuver and was savagely ambushed by a North Vietnamese army battalion firing rockets, mortars, and automatic weapons. Courageously exposing himself to the intense barrage, Lieutenant Cecil rallied his troops into a hasty defensive perimeter and directed their fires on the assaulting enemy force. He observed two of his wounded men lying outside the perimeter; heedless of his safety, he raced through a hail of bullets and carried them from the ambush killing zone to cover. After giving his weapon to a man whose grenade launcher had been destroyed by shrapnel, he picked up an enemy assault rifle and sprayed the advancing ranks, killing three North Vietnamese. When his platoon received the order to withdraw to the company’s defensive position, Lieutenant Cecil gallantly remained behind and engaged the hostile force and fierce fire, rifle fire, killing six more enemy soldiers within 10 meters of his location. He then rejoined his unit and, although wounded by shrapnel, assisted in placing claymore mines and distributing ammunition. His fearless leadership throughout the seven-hour battle was an inspiration to his men.”

For his bravery and leadership that day, Cecil received the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest military decoration for valor.

He says what he did was not about bravery. “We were a team. We were a team, and we rehearsed and practiced, and you know I knew the men, and I always say leadership is not about bravery or accolades. Leadership is about responsibility, and when you take on the mantle of an officer, your concern ought to be totally the men.”

Years after combat, Cecil describes what Veterans Day means to him. “I think of Veterans Day in this regard. Armed Forces Day is for those serving. Memorial Day is for those who gave the sacrifice, and Veterans Day is for everybody that served and is now here, still living, or near death or whatever. And so I think it’s very, very important because when you figure what we ask of our young citizens when they go in, and there are no guarantees that you’re going to war or not going to war or conflict or accidents or whatever, and so I think it’s very important to give that group of veterans who sign on the dotted line and ask no questions going in, and for us to take time to not only Veterans Day but to spend a full week thanking them.”

Dee Birkes, a younger veteran who served in the U-S Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during Desert Storm in Iraq, returned to Winchester to volunteer with the Clark County Veterans Council. They worked for years to plan and build a downtown memorial honoring the 96 Clark County veterans who died in World War II and Korea. The memorial was dedicated last year.

Birkes says it’s an educational memorial that includes stone pavers, each one inscribed with the veteran’s name and where they served. The pavers lead to a reflecting wall, and at either end are granite maps of the Pacific and European World War II theaters, and the Korean War.

“You’ll see numbers on the maps, and they correspond with the numbers on the markers facing it. That’s where that soldier had been killed in action, and it tells you exactly where they were at, and so forth. And same thing on the Korea side, and the Korean Peninsula on the right. So, you can go up there and look at the markers, and then you can go up the map and find out exactly where they were. I mean, it’s a learning platform.”

To further the education about veterans, Birkes has arranged for six Clark County veterans to share their stories on local radio station, WWKY. During Veterans Day Week, Birkes will do live interviews with the men on WWKY’s “Mornings on Main” program from 7- 9 a.m.

“Just telling their stories and letting them share with us, and just so many interesting stories that come about. And you know there’s healing in talking about it. I never used to like to talk about it very much when I first got back, but there’s healing in words, and to see some of these veterans, these combat veterans, especially open up for the first time, it’s like a load is taken off their mind. And you know, I just want to be there for those moments and let them know that you’re not alone.”

Ed Burtner, former Mayor of Winchester and now regular host of “Mornings on Main,” understands the need to remember veterans. Burtner joined the Marine Corps right out of high school in 1969.

“It was during my senior year in high school; I felt a duty. I felt an obligation. It was not the most popular thing. Nobody knew that I had enlisted except for my family and my girlfriend. And I was one of these kids that was president of the senior class, and you know I was going to college and all that, and I just felt like that this was something I needed to do. And the experience had a profound effect; it always does on people who serve in the military, but especially people who go to Parris Island (South Carolina) and go through that training experience. It’s an easy thing for me to honor veterans. We are a nation that is safe and secure, not because of borders, not because of oceans, but because of the 1.5 million men and women that are on duty right now.”

Burtner, Birkes, and Cecil have all given back to the veteran community in Central Kentucky. Birkes is working on a new veteran’s project.

“The habitat director for Richmond and Clark County, she called me about a month ago, and they’re trying a nationwide initiative for habitat to find housing for veterans in need, and that’s the thing that has struck me too. So okay, new project for us to help veterans out. Let’s get to work on this. Eleven percent of the homeless population in the state of Kentucky are veterans, and we’re trying to get the word out.”

It’s a reminder this Veterans Day week that the needs of men and women who served in the military are ongoing.

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