10 minute read
Hershey Kenneth Riege
HERSHEY
One of the greatest honor’s is to assist a MOH Recipient with their medal. No matter how many times I have helped Hershey, I still get a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.
By Kenneth Riege, USAF Veteran
I could just finish the story here and leave it up to the readers to reflect upon their very own unique “Hershey” experience. All are wonderful and so very special. However, I would like to share just a few of my families’ unique “Hershey experience” stories. We are truly blessed to have Hershey and to have had his wife, Terry, (along with their entire family) being a part of our lives for many years. Hershey has an amazing sense of humor and the ability to tell a great joke. This one is his favorite and while on paper it won’t have the same impact as with Hershey telling it, but I’ll try.
Hershey and Terry were married for 66 ½ years. Many people over the years asked him what was their secret to such a long happy marriage? His response was simple and to the point, “You need to go out to a nice candlelight dinner, have some wine and listen to some soft music and dance a little. Terry went on Tuesdays, and I went on Fridays.” It doesn’t matter how many times you have heard this joke, it’s always funny and is always a crowd pleaser. I also want to share a little bit about Terry. She was an amazing artist, tennis player, and made the best red Chile.
For this story I am going to break it up into different segments starting with:
“A Hero’s Hero”
So, what does that mean? “A Hero’s Hero.” To be honest until April 2015 I would not have had an answer to that question, until I traveled with Hershey to Gainesville, TX for their Medal of Honor Host City Program event. This is such a wonderful community full of amazing patriots, just like Gallup. As a matter of fact, Gainesville, TX was named the Most Patriotic Small Town in America in 2012 and lead to me nominating Gallup in this same category in 2013.
Lucky for us, the contest was discontinued in 2014 and we got to keep the title forever, but that is another story for another time.
Hershey had been to Gainesville before, but this was my first time there. Actually, this was my first trip with Hershey to a major MOH Event and I was quite nervous. The most MOH Recipients I had been around at any one time was 2 and now I was going to be with 20. The arrival at the airport in Dallas was pretty cool as was the motorcade which by some estimates was around 6 miles long. After we arrived at the hotel in Gainesville and got settled into our room Hershey said,
“Let’s go downstairs and see what’s going on.” As we got off the elevator you could hear the laughing and talking coming from the hospitality suite as friends and MOH Recipients greeted one another. Well as we walked into the room, the talking stopped and those who were sitting, stood up and watched Hershey as he sat down to join his fellow recipients. I asked Hershey if he would like anything and he said, “Yes, let’s have a glass of red wine to help unwind from the trip.” After we got our wine and cheered each other, everyone started talking again. It struck me that even though these men who are some of the greatest heroes to have ever worn the uniform of our country, have heroes of their own and Hershey is one of them.
Hershey and Terry in their home. “An Opportunity of a Lifetime”
After WW2, Hershey reenlisted in the Army Reserves for a three-year hitch. He figured why not, and the extra money would come in handy. He wanted to join the paratroopers but was told that he was too light and would never come down. Now fast forward nearly 70 years, where now at 92 years young, Hershey has the “opportunity of a lifetime” and gets to go skydiving.
Yes, I said skydiving. Hershey along with his dear friend and fellow Korean War Veteran and POW retired US Army Command, Sgt. Major Joe
Picture of Hershey after completing his jump. The gentleman with the parachute was Hershey’s tandem jumper. He is a US Army Veteran and has made over 5,000 jumps (I am sure there are more by now) and is considered one of the most experiences skydivers in the world. He also did a tandem jump with our 41st President, George H.W. Bush. He advised Hershey that he was more nervous jumping with him than with President Bush.
Annello and Hershey’s granddaughter, US Air Force Academy Graduate, Captain (now Major) Marissa Reagan helped Hershey fulfill his lifelong desire to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. If you Google “Honor Jump with Hershey Miyamura” it will take you to the YouTube link. Watch it and then after you have dried your tears watch it again.
“The Ultimate Smile”
“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” Mother Teresa
Hershey’s smile not only lights up a room but warms your heart. Here are a couple of his “Ultimate Smiles.”
This is probably my favorite Hershey picture. A few years ago, Hershey wanted to make a change to his MOH Challenge Coin. He asked me to find a nice picture of him and after I showed him this (after
Hershey and I posing for a picture just after he had finished speaking to one of the Air Force ANG Units that was working with SWIF (Southwest Indian Foundation)
This is the challenge coin that is presented to each graduate of Miyamura High School
Making sure that when any Aliens do land, they know there is intelligent life here.
Hershey with his “ultimate smile” at the El Rancho. We were having lunch before he was going to speak to one of the military groups. To be honest I don’t remember what we were talking about (but I am sure it was something Retha had said that made him laugh so hard).
cropping myself out) he said, “Yes, I love that picture. Let’s use that one.” Each year Hershey presents all the graduates of Miyamura High School with one of these challenge coins. I have been so honored to assist him with this for the past 5 years with the exception of 2020 and then again in 2021 when Hershey was unable to attend the MHS graduation at which point I presented these coins on his behalf. Hershey has asked me to make sure that this tradition continues to which I replied, “Yes Sir!”
“He Didn’t Have To, But
He Did It Anyways.”
This story takes us back to Fall 2015 when our son Eric was headed off to UNM in Albuquerque. Retha and I had been dreading this day and feeling like we were the only parents who have ever taken their child off to school. After I dropped Eric off at Lobo Village and was headed back, feeling sad and teary eyed my phone rang, and it was Hershey. I know you should not answer the phone while driving, but hey, this was Hershey calling so I did. He asked me what I was doing, and after I told him he said he knew and asked if I was OK. I said, “Yes sir.” He said he just wanted to reassure Retha, and I that we have done a wonderful job raising Eric and he will be just fine. He told me to call him when I got back to Gallup and we would go to dinner, which we did and had a wonderful time. That evening Retha and I talked about Hershey’s call and how blessed we are to have him in our lives. Again, he didn’t have to call me, but he did. Just thinking about him taking that little bit of time out of the day to reassure us that Eric was going to be just fine, made it one of the most special phone calls I have ever received.
A few weeks ago, I took Eric over to see Hershey for a visit. Hershey was giving him his “Things Happen for a Reason Speech” and Eric was taking in every word.
Later Eric told me that he just wanted to concentrate on Hershey’s face and his voice so he would remember that moment forever.
One more story to share and then I will close. As in most of my stories I often jump back and forth in time and this segment will take us to 2016. Retha had asked me if I wanted to go see a movie. Typically, my response to this is, why go to the movies when I can nap at home for free, but she really wanted to go so said, “Sure, what movie would you like to see?” To my surprise she replied, “Hacksaw Ridge.” This movie tells the story of Desmond Doss and the struggles he faced as a Conscientious Objector serving in the military and how he earned the Medal of Honor during the Battle of Okinawa.
The battle scenes are a bit rough and both Retha and I were a bit shaken. After the movie the only thing we wanted to do was to see our Hershey. I called him and asked if it was OK for us to come by and he said sure, but Hershey being Hershey could tell in my voice that something was wrong. He asked if everything was OK, and I told him about the movie we had just seen.
When we arrived at his house, we could hear music playing which is something we had never heard before. He was sitting in the living room and waved us in and began to play some different tunes on his harmonica.
He played for a bit and then asked us about the movie. Hershey knew Desmond Doss and his MOH Actions and said that he was quiet, but very nice. I asked Hershey a question that I am sure he has been asked many times, and that is: “Under those circumstances how were you able to keep your wits about you when faced with combat?” He thought about it for a moment and quietly said, “You know what, War is Hell.” Enough Said.
As with all my stories, I end them with a quote from one of our nation’s greatest heroes. I will be using Hershey’s quote again, but a little different than before. A few years ago, Retha asked him if she could get his MOH Quote tattooed on her arm. Hershey looked at her and said, “No, you don’t need to get a tattoo.” He doesn’t have anything against them, he just didn’t feel Retha needed a tattoo. Well now fast forward to earlier this year and “out of the blue” I asked Hershey if Retha could get his quote tattooed on her arm. He thought about it for a bit and said, “Sure, that will be fine.” asked him if he would write it down, since we had something special planned. When Hershey saw her tattoo with his quote (in his handwriting) on her arm he smiled and said, “Hey that is a great saying to live by.”
Here is a picture of her tattoo of Hershey’s quote. I
