Story co-produced by Mackenzie Atkinson
The WCU Office of Student Military Services celebrated Veterans Day by hosting a lunch in the Cardinal room of the University Center on Friday, Nov. 9. Over 30 WCU students and staff from all branches of the military attended the lunch.
Not many know what it is like to have gone through the military, which is why it is important for veterans to have an opportunity to connect with other veterans. The Western Carolina Journalist asked veteran staff and students why it is important to have a community of veterans at WCU.
President of the WCU Student Veterans Association, Austin Summers served in the Army as a mechanic from 2017-2020 and remains in the Individual Ready Reserve. Summers told us, “I lost friends, I’m sure he probably lost friends [putting a hand on Tanaka]. There’s this mutual understanding of what each other went through.”
WCU’s first man, Dennis Brown served in the Army as a field artilleryman from 1971-1978. Brown said, “I think there is a camaraderie whether your active duty, reserve or even for dependents there is a camaraderie and understanding of what we volunteered to give and what we gave and shared, that no one else can appreciate unless you’ve been there and done that… We don’t ask for that recognition, we just did it because it was the right thing to do for us and our country.”
Martin Tanaka is a professor of engineering and technology at WCU, and served in the Army from 1985-1993. Tanaka said, “There’s actually not that many of us if you look around and talk to people… I feel like if someone is a veteran I want to give a little bit back to them anyway I can because they made a sacrifice for our country and I want to be able to give a little bit back to them.”
