Nevada schools honor veterans in ceremony

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada R-5 schools honored area veterans Thursday morning at 11:11 a.m., the time and day that World War I ended in 1918. The ceremony began with the sounding of "Eleven Bells" and the posting of the colors.

Ken Loomer, president of Precision Aero, was presented a high school diploma 42 years after he joined the Air Force without completing high school. Loomer did get his G.E.D. in 1963.

After leaving the Air Force in 1966 Loomer went on to achieve success and is now back in Nevada as the president of a successful company. Chris Ellis, president of the board of education presented Loomer with the award.

Junior Air Force ROTC Cadet Jamie Bastow gave a history of Veterans Day, telling the story of the selection of the unknown soldier, "His name known but to God," and the various ways the holiday, first known as Armistice Day, had evolved over the years.

Marcella Ast and Skippy Tipton, together at the podium, both gave readings of poems dedicated to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Tipton reading "First Visit to the Wall" by Stephen R. Guilmet and Ast reading "The Wall" by Catherine Anne McNeill.

Local architect Jim Adams spoke of his service in Vietnam flying helicopters. Adams flew a Huey helicopter that could hold six to eight passengers in addition to the crew.

Adams started off by saying that he and Dave Adams, principal of the high school aren't related. "Oh, maybe cousins way back there," Adams said.

He said one of his most intense memories was of a day he referred to as his day of firsts.

"I call it my day of firsts," Adams said. "There were several firsts on that day. It was the first time I took off with 21 or 22 people on board a helicopter rated to carry six or eight men in addition to the four man crew. It was the first time I landed on an aircraft carrier. I was immediately seasick. It was the first time I'd been shot down."

"I'd been there for a couple of months and the command pilot let me take the controls to practice flying at low altitude," Adams said. "I must not have been low enough because we were shot down."

Adams brought some pictures with him that were projected on a screen behind him. When he came to a picture of him in front of his crashed helicopter, he said that he had written his wife that he was investigating the crash, not that he was involved in it.

Adams was visibly emotional when he spoke of his wife, who he credited with supporting him all during their married life.

"You'll have to excuse me," Adams said. "My wife has meant so much to me."

After Adams finished, the Nevada Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps gave a military flag ceremony. Flags from each branch of the service were shown and a brief description of them was read by Cadet Jennifer Trautman and Cadet Hanna Swopes. The Nevada Tiger Pride Band played "Salute to America's Finest as the JROTC cadets displayed the flags. The ceremony ended with the playing of "Taps."