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Saluting veterans: Area veterans honored at community ceremony
SIKESTON — Area veterans were honored during a ceremony held Wednesday night at the First Baptist Church in Sikeston.
While patriotic songs echoed through the sanctuary and each branch of the Armed Forces was honored, pastor Mathew Vroman drew special attention to Vietnam veterans.
“They were told naughty, terrible, disgusting things just for serving their country,” Vroman said. “Many of them were drafted. So it is so important we honor our Vietnam vets because they didn’t get that.”
Vietnam veteran Henry Pasquet, from Ellsinore, Missouri, spoke during the service. Pasquet, a retired Air Force pilot that flew in the Vietnam War and world record holder in long-range shooting, spoke of the past, present and future.
Pasquet, who was in Vietnam for 28 months between 1968 and 1970, shared what it was like during the war.
“It was a painful past but we have to address it. I think most of us kept it buried for so many decades,” Pasquet said.
Pasquet explained what it was like getting up every morning expecting to die, leaving many scars, some invisible.
“You start out and you’re John Wayne and everybody is going to get shot down but you. Then you start losing all the planes around you and have a lot of close calls. You’re exhausted by the heat and it just wears you down,” Pasquet said. “You give up hope of getting back and that’s depressing.”
Pasquet said that no matter how bad he and others had it, there were others who had it worse, recalling a soldier in a hospital he saw that had lost both arms and legs.
Pasquet also spoke of the many friends he lost during the war, including his co-pilot and his former aircraft commander which he lost within eight days of each other.
“If we don’t name them they’re forgotten,” Pasquet said. “Their names are on the wall but there are lots of names on the wall.”
Pasquet addressed the present, saying he has had a great 50 years.
“My fun meter is totally pegged out,” Pasquet said.
However, Pasquet said many veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are treated with counseling and medicine that isn’t working.
“Jesus Christ is the great physician,” Pasquet said, also adding that many counselors who speak to those with PTSD weren’t in the war and don’t “speak the same language.”
Pasquet told those in attendance how following God and the Bible is the correct path and spoke of the future also.
“God has a plan and purpose for our lives,” Pasquet said. “Jesus can change us from victims to victors.”
After Pasquet spoke, retired Army veteran Tom Austin removed the POW/MIA flag.
“Our theory is they haven’t made it home — yet,” Austin said, adding nobody was expecting them to walk through the door. “If we can just find where they are and retrieve the remains and bring them home then you’ve got closure for the family and the number goes down by one.”
Austin said due to COVID-19, for the first time in 25 years he couldn’t say how many POW/MIAs have been brought home in the last year.
“As long as there is a live Vietnam veteran on the face of this earth, this flag is going to be around,” Austin said.