Military Archives - Missourinet

Flags to fly at half-staff at all Missouri fire stations on Saturday to honor McCormick (AUDIO)

January 10, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday morning in Lee’s Summit for a firefighter/paramedic who died Sunday (January 5) while battling a house fire in western Missouri’s Peculiar.

State Rep. Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill, addresses the Missouri House about the death of firefighter Charles McCormick during a January 8, 2020 floor speech. State Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview, is to Haffner’s right (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The service will begin Saturday at 11 a.m. at Abundant Life Church. Firefighters from across the state are expected to attend.

Governor Mike Parson has ordered U.S. and Missouri flags to be flown at half-staff at every fire station in Missouri on Saturday, in honor of Charles McCormick. The governor has also ordered flags to be flown at half-staff Saturday at the Fire Fighters Memorial of Missouri, which is located in mid-Missouri’s Kingdom City. Flags will also be at half-staff at all government buildings in Cass County.

“Firefighter-paramedic Charles McCormick lived his life as a devoted public servant committed to protecting others,” Governor Parson said in a written statement. “He made the ultimate sacrifice, and he will always be remembered for his legacy of bravely serving his community, state and nation so that others could be safe. Firefighter-Paramedic McCormick’s tragic passing serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made by members of Missouri’s fire service, who take on risks each day to protect their neighbors and people they may never meet.”

During Wednesday’s opening day of the 2020 legislative session in Jefferson City, the Missouri House honored the 30-year-old McCormick with a moment of silence.

State Rep. Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill, asked Cass County’s House delegation from both parties to join him. State Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview, stood at Haffner’s right, with other delegation members nearby.

“We’re deeply saddened by this tragic loss,” Haffner said on the House floor. “Our first responders make great sacrifices to serve and protect.”

Representative Haffner praises Mr. McCormick’s military service and his courage. McCormick served in the Missouri National Guard’s 1135th Engineer Company from 2011 to 2014.

“We’re eternally grateful for his service and his sacrifice. On behalf of the people of the great state of Missouri, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his fellow firefighters, particularly to his family,” Haffner said on the floor.

Governor Parson says McCormick is survived by his wife and three young sons.

Click here to listen to the Missouri House floor comments from State Rep. Mike Haffner, which took place on January 8, 2020 in Jefferson City:

Missouri Congressmen weigh in on Trump’s call to attack Iranian general

January 6, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer backs President Donald Trump’s decision to order last week’s airstrike killing Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. The East-Central Missouri Republican tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly that the president’s call sends a strong message to Iran.

“It wasn’t necessarily a reprisal for Iran killing some folks earlier in the week and for the raid on our embassy,” says Luetkemeyer. “This is something that they have been looking at for quite some time. Soleimani has been responsible for lots of planning and various terror attacks over the years. The numbers are horrific that they equate to him or give to him for his actions.”

Luetkemeyer says Trump made the right judgement call.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City (September 2018 file photo courtesy of Congressman Cleaver’s office)

“Apparently he (Soleimani) was in the process of planning another series of attacks on some of our embassies and some of our places where some of our American folks meet,” says Luetkemeyer. “You had two choices – either allow him to do this or to take him out and stop this nonsense. Knowing that your information is and then looking at past history about at how this guy operates, knowing that he is going to be doing these things, let’s stop this and protect American lives and property.”

Fellow Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, says he fears Trump’s decision is a grave miscalculation. He says Trump’s “monumental escalation” in tensions with Iran, without consulting congressional leadership and America’s allies abroad, could be disastrous.

Cierpiot files Missouri Korean War Memorial legislation

January 1, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Legislation that would designate a memorial in Kansas City as the state’s official Korean War Veterans Memorial has been filed by a western Missouri lawmaker.

The Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial is located in Washington Square Park in Kansas City (file photo courtesy of Kansas City Parks Department website)

State Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit, has filed the legislation, which designates the Missouri Korean War Veterans Memorial in Kansas City for that status.

The Korean War took place between 1950 and 1953.

The memorial, which was dedicated in 2011, is located at Pershing and Main in Kansas City, in Washington Square Park.

The Kansas City Parks Department notes about 37,000 American soldiers died during the Korean War, including more than 900 Missourians. More than 100 of them lived in the Kansas City region.

Cierpiot’s legislation is Senate Bill 656. Missouri’s 2020 legislative session begins on January 8 in Jefferson City.

Southern Missouri soldier seriously injured in Afghanistan honored with flag that flew over U.S. Capitol (AUDIO)

December 10, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A southern Missouri congressman says all members of Congress should travel to war-torn countries to visit American troops.

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, presents an American flag which flew over the U.S. Capitol to family members of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ian Ives in November 2019 (photo courtesy of Congressman Smith’s office)

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, who serves as the GOP Conference Secretary, visited Afghanistan and Kuwait just before Thanksgiving with five other members of Congress.

Smith describes America’s servicemen and women as “the pinnacle of patriotism,” adding that their sacrifices ensure that we can enjoy our rights of liberty and freedom.

Before flying out from Joint Base Andrews, Smith met with U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ian Ives and his family. Sergeant Ives, who’s from Cuba, Missouri, is recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, after suffering serious injuries in Afghanistan.

Smith brought another injured veteran with him to Walter Reed, to meet Sergeant Ives.

“I brought another fellow member of Congress with me,” Smith says. “One who’s experienced and who has lied in the same bed that Staff Sergeant Ives has, and that is Representative Congressman Brian Mast from Florida.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Florida, lost both of his legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan, and Smith says Mast was a great inspiration to Ives.

Sergeant Ives’ family has traveled from Crawford County to Washington to support him, and Smith thanked them for their sacrifice. Congressman Smith presented Sergeant Ives and his family with a flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol.

During his overseas trip, Smith also met in Afghanistan with a soldier who farms in southeast Missouri’s Jackson. Smith tells Missourinet he met with U.S. Army soldier Spencer Knowlan in the war-torn nation. They also met during the congressman’s August farm tour across southern Missouri.

“He’s a fine young man who serves his country, he serves his community and he is definitely representing us well in Afghanistan,” says Smith.

Smith says Knowlan’s parents and his wife are operating the family farm in Cape Girardeau County, while he’s serving in Afghanistan.

Smith praises what he describes as the relentless dedication of America’s armed forces.

Smith represents 30 counties in southeast and south-central Missouri. The sprawling district includes Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Poplar Bluff, Cuba and Farmington.

The congressional visit to Afghanistan and Kuwait was bipartisan. U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, were among the others on the trip.

Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, which was recorded on December 6, 2019:

Missouri veteran says Pearl Harbor invasion was ‘biggest thing in his naval life’

December 6, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

December 7, 1941 is a day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed as one which will live in infamy. It was the day that Japanese planes raced over the sky
on the U.S. naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and fired bullets, bombs and torpedoes. Bill McAnany of Jefferson City served on the USS Solace and was nearby at the time of the attack.

USS Arizona (Photo courtesy of Bill McAnany)

“Probably the biggest thing in my naval life was the invasion of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, where I happened to be at that particular time,” he says. “It was quite shocking. You could look off to your right from where we were standing and we saw these anti-aircraft bursts. All of a sudden, a plane fell out of the sky.”

McAnany was twenty years old and serving in the Navy as an X-ray technician aboard the 400-bed hospital ship. He says it was quite an experience.

“There were very few at that time wounds,” he says. “But everybody was burned because if they got thrown off the ship, they were in that water. It was all very, very hot.”

McAnany says the “hairiest” part of the day came at 9:30 p.m. when a U.S. aircraft carrier with six fighter planes entered and took care of business.

“They buzzed the field and all the sudden, the sky lit up like day. It reminded you of the Star-Spangled Banner. One guy got down safe. The rest of them were shot out of the sky,” he says.

Missouri Navy Sailor Bill McAnany

Japan damaged all eight U.S. Navy battleships and four sunk. All but the USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service.

“We were about 100 yards away from the USS Arizona,” says McAnany. “And they were coming in using our ship as a marker to come into, but they didn’t drop any bombs near us or anything.”

When the attack was over, McAnany says he and his ship mates were required to remain on the USS Solace until after Christmas.

“They were being cautious because there was a lot of talk about invasions,” McAnany says.

He says the aftermath of the strike was brutal.

“We would send a couple of boats out every day and they would just go through the harbor and picking up the guys that had come to the surface,” says McAnany. “We were doing that until we left in mid-March.”

The attack killed more than 2,400 Americans and wounded 1,100 others – launching America’s entry into World War II.

McAnany served his country for 20 years, rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. He spent much of his 20-year Navy career in Asia.

The 98-year-old St. Louis native wants to spend his 100th birthday visiting Pearl Harbor, which falls around the time of his 50th wedding anniversary and the 80th anniversary of the attack.

Ft. Leonard Wood leaders aim to make Thanksgiving special for thousands of Missouri soldiers

November 27, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Photo courtesy of Ft. Leonard Wood

One of Fort Leonard Wood’s largest meals of the year is being prepared at the southern Missouri base. About 300 food service workers are whipping up roughly 12,000 lunch meals and another 30,000 throughout the day for service members staying on the base over Thanksgiving. Public Affairs Director Tiffany Wood says Army soldiers, family members and veterans will feast on thousands of pounds of turkey, shrimp and beef and other traditional Thanksgiving dishes.

“It’s one that our soldiers enjoy and the food service staff and the unit leaders really get pumped up for this meal. Unit leaders will actually serve the food to the soldiers that day. So, it’s a pretty special day,” says Wood. “It’s quite a meal. The food service workers – they take a lot of pride. A lot of them will tell you that you know, it’s kind of their way to give back to the soldiers to make sure they have a nice holiday.”

Wood says the event is a major undertaking.

Photo courtesy of Ft. Leonard Wood

“The planning for our Thanksgiving meal starts months in advance to ensure we get the right products in and the right quantities that we need,” says Wood. “The entire week of Thanksgiving they’re busy prepping the meal and getting ready for it.”

She says the food does not go to waste.

There are leftovers and those leftovers, it varies,” Wood says. “But they are used in additional meals throughout the day or throughout the next day.”

Fort Leonard Wood has one of the largest dining areas within the Department of Defense.

Missouri soldier improving after getting critically injured in Afghanistan

November 20, 2019 By Missourinet Contributor

Sgt. Ian Ives (Photo courtesy of Missouri Military Academy’s Facebook page)

A southern Missouri soldier is on the road to recovery after getting critically injured last month in Afghanistan by an explosive. Missourinet affiliate KXEO in Mexico reports Staff Sgt. Ian Ives of Cuba is reportedly alert, talking and making his own decisions.

Ives is a 2011 graduate of Missouri Military Academy in central Missouri’s Mexico.

He is being treated at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

By Missourinet affiliate KXEO in Mexico

Missouri WWII veteran held honor flight, ‘mail call’ letters close to his heart

November 13, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Before the days of email, social media and texting, getting letters from home was a way for America’s soldiers to stay in touch with their loved ones. Steve Paulsell, with Central Missouri Honor Flight, recalls one trip with a WWII veteran who grew up moving from orphanage to orphanage.

Photos courtesy of Central Missouri Honor Flight

“When mail call was called, his name was never called because he didn’t have any family writing letters to him,” says Paulsell.

The organization brings back that special “mail call” memory for veterans by secretly contacting family and friends to write letters to them. At 35,000 feet in the air on an honor flight, the northeast Missouri war hero got a special delivery.

“For the first time ever, this veteran had his name called in mail call,” Paulsell says. “We have a lot of school kids and businesses who write “Dear Veteran” letters. It was a very, very emotional time for him.”

The man kept his memories close to his heart from that trip to visit the nation’s war memorials in Washington, D.C.

“About a year-and-a-half later, we got a call from a nurse up in Hannibal to let us know that this veteran had passed away and the last three days of his life, he was at her ICU at the hospital,” says Paulsell. “She said, “For the last three days he did nothing but talk about his honor flight – how meaningful that was to him.’ And she said, ‘When he passed away, he had those letters in his hand.’”

Paulsell has story after story of veterans walking away from honor flights with life-changing experiences and memories for life. Veterans wishing to sign up for an honor flight can click here.

Missouri veteran on honor flight leaves combat boots, tough feelings at Vietnam War wall

November 12, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

A group of 108 veterans from World War Two and the Korean and Vietnam Wars are aboard an honor flight today visiting Washington, D.C. Steve Paulsell, the flight director for Central Missouri Honor Flight, recalls many stories throughout the years about the power these journeys have on veterans. He says for many veterans, the trip is about healing.

Photo courtesy of Central Missouri Honor Flight

“One veteran took his combat boots to the wall, sat them at the wall and walked away,” says Paulsell. “Later he said, ‘I always swore if I ever got the chance to go to the Vietnam Wall, I’d take these boots up there and leave all the anger, the mad, the regret, the sadness and the pain in those boots and walk away a new man.’ He said, ‘That’s what happened that day.’”

Paulsell says many soldiers hold tokens from their military days close to their hearts.

“I think that’s why they carry the dollar bills and keep the boots and all that,” says Paulsell. “Although combat is a terrible time, there is a very special meaning to the relationships that they built there that they’ve never experienced again.”

Central Missouri Honor Flight is accepting applications for its 2020 trips. Paulsell says Missouri has hundreds, if not thousands, of Vietnam War veterans who should fill out applications to get on an honor flight.

Click here for more information about the honor flights.

Fifty years later, two Missouri soldiers surprisingly reunite on an honor flight

November 11, 2019 By Alisa Nelson

Two northern Missouri men who fought side by side in the Vietnam War reunited decades later during a veterans trip to visit the nation’s war memorials. Steve Paulsell, the flight director for Central Missouri Honor Flight, says the Kirksville war heroes did not recognize each other on the trip, but they still remembered a promise they made to each other all those years ago.

Photos courtesy of Central Missouri Honor Flight’s Facebook page

“He said, ‘Before he and I parted, we took a dollar bill and tore it in half and agreed that we would both carry that half a dollar bill for the rest of our lives in memory of our third buddy that was killed in action and our service together in Vietnam,’” says Paulsell.

He says that veteran still had his half of a dollar bill with him on the trip to Washington, D.C. The soldier then found out the other half of the same dollar bill was also aboard.

“They had not spoken since they had departed 50 years ago at an airport in California, never to speak to each other or know where each other were. At 3 ‘o clock in the morning on a bus going to St. Louis for an honor flight, they reconnected,” he says.

Paulsell says the veterans reconnected with each other and their fallen comrade.

“We’ve got a photograph of them putting that dollar bill back together underneath the name of their buddy on the Vietnam War wall,” he says.

Paulsell, who has been part of the organization since its inception in 2009, has many stories about the power these journeys have had on some of America’s brave.

“It’s much more than seeing the granite, the marble and the memorials,” he says. “We learned early on this is about healing. All these veterans, at least for the most part, are carrying around a lot of regrets, demons, sadness, frustration and so on. We hear so many of these veterans recount from their return and talking to their families later, what a difference it made, what a change it made in the veterans. We see them now out in the community wearing their veteran caps proudly as they should have been for a long, long time,” says Paulsell.

The organization’s last honor flight of the year lifts off tomorrow for Washington, D.C. A group of 108 veterans from World War Two and the Korean and Vietnam Wars will be going.