License honors vets for service

Those who served in Korea following the war will soon have a license plate recognizing their service and sacrifice

scottw@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- Those who served in Korea following the cease fire should soon have a license plate option honoring their service thanks to a local veteran.

Assuming Gov. Jay Nixon signs the bill to make it official, veterans who served in Korea after July 27, 1953, will have an appropriate license plate choice.

"We're very hopeful," said Gerald Rogers of Sikeston, "but he hasn't signed it yet -- I don't expect any trouble but you know the world of politics."

His efforts to establish a license plate for Korea Defense Service veterans began "about three or four years ago," Rogers said.

"I went out here to the license bureau and got a sheet that listed all the military plates on it," he recalled. "I was wanting to get a Korean Defense Service plate. Other states have them -- not all, but some do."

Upon confirming it wasn't already an option, "I asked her, 'How would a person go about getting one?' She said, 'Probably an act of Congress.'"

Rogers found it didn't take quite that -- just the equivalent process at the state level.

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