Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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4 UCW NOVEMBER 9 - 15, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Isaiah Jones graphics@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Kathleen Ramsey Jason Brady Chayenne Burns Laura Browne Katrina Wilson Jyl Barlow INTERN R. Elgin Zeiber CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joseph Reagan, John Hood, Sean Smith, Cynthia Ross COVER Design and photo of North Carolina Veterans Park by Isaiah Jones MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Published weekly on Wednesdays, Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Association of Community Publishers e 11th hour has become synon- ymous with Veterans Day, originally called Armistice Day, in recognition of the document signed at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month. In reality, the Armistice ending the war to end all wars was signed around 5 a.m. on November 11th. Over the course of the next 6 hours, nearly 3,000 men would lose their lives in the final hours of a war that had already claimed the lives of 20 million military personnel. e final death of WWI came at 10:59 a.m. one minute before the guns of war would fall silent. Private Henry Gunther was a German-American drafted in the fall of 1917. Most accounts state that his final actions were motivated by Gunther's need to demonstrate that he was "courageous and all-Ameri- can." A chaplain from Gunther's unit recounted, "As 11 a.m. approached, Gunther suddenly rose with his rifle and ran through thick fog. His men shouted for him to stop. So did the Germans. But Gunther kept running and firing. One machine gun blast later, he was dead. His death was recorded at 10:59 a.m. In every conflict, inevitably a final service member pays the ultimate sacrifice. In the closing days of World War II, Private Charley Havlat, the son of Czech immigrants, found himself liberating his parents' former homeland. During a reconnaissance patrol near the town of Volary on May 7, 1945, enemy fire from a woodline hit the patrol, wound- ing several and killing Havlat. Word of the cease-fire reached Havlat's position minutes after he was killed. Officially, the U.S. has never declared a final casualty in the Korean War. Since the armistice was signed, nearly 100 U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat on the Korean peninsula. On April 29, 1975, Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge were two of a small number of Marines tasked with safe- guarding the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. McMahon had been in Saigon only 11 days, and was 11 days shy of his 22nd birthday. Judge, 19, had arrived in early March. ey were killed in a rocket at- tack. e U.S. would complete the process of withdrawing from Saigon the following day. Initial reports said their bodies had been evacuated. In fact, they were left behind. McMahon and Judge were repatriated Feb. 22, 1976, following diplomatic efforts led by Senator Edward Kennedy. Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss was among the last of the 2,461 service mem- bers who died in Afghanistan. Knauss and 12 of his comrades were killed when suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the withdrawal from Kabul. Assigned to the 8th Psycho- logical Operations Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, Knauss was supporting the noncombatant evacuation operation. He had previously served in Afghanistan as an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division. In every war, there is always one that must fill the dignified but dubious role in history as being the last to give the full measure of devotion. Each year on the 11th day of the 11th month as a nation we pause, not only to honor those that have given their lives, but for all those who believed so deeply in American exceptionalism that they were willing to risk their lives to defend it. For most Americans, talking about war is conceptual, something learned through history books, news re- ports and movies — those who have served do not know that luxury. Not only should we remember that the democratic principles we hold so dear have been defended by generations of Americans whom we honor on Veterans Day, but more importantly, we should take inspira- tion from that sacrifice. Our country, despite all our self-imposed differ- ences, needs to look to our veterans and see that there are no divisions in a foxhole — there are only those who stand in defense of democracy and those who stand against it. While we may only celebrate Veterans Day with a few moments of silence each year, we have an op- portunity to use those moments to find our own way to serve as part of our commitment to living up to the legacy of our veterans. When the Armistice was signed in 1918, when the Japanese sur- rendered, and when the last flights departed Saigon and Kabul — these were not simply endings, they were new beginnings. We honor those who serve by recommitting ourselves to making the sacrifices necessary to preserve our way of life. As Adlai Stevenson once stated, "Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." Let this Veterans Day be a new beginning. Go forth and find a way to serve our na- tion, our communities and each other — we owe it to our veterans. Editor's Note: Joseph Reagan served eight years as an active duty officer in the U.S. Army, including two tours to Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division. He is a graduate of Norwich University, the oldest private military college in the country. Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun by Maine businessman Morrill Worcester in 1992. e organization's mis- sion — Remember, Honor, Teach — is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as at thousands of veterans' cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond. For more in- formation or to sponsor a wreath please visit www. wreathsacrossamerica.org. PUBLISHER'S PEN The 'Last' serve as inspiration for all Americans on Veterans Day by JOSEPH REAGAN JOSEPH REAGAN, Director of Military and Veterans Outreach for Wreaths Across America. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. A paratrooper pays his respects to his fallen comrade, Cpl. Nicholas Alexander Arvanitis, an infantryman assigned to 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. Cpl. Arvanitis was killed Oct. 6, 2006, during a patrol in Bayji, Iraq. (Photo by Spc. Joshua Ford, Courtesy DVIDS)