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Board of Trustees addresses strike issues SARAH SCHNEIDER Daily Egyptian Students expressed their concern with issues that came from the strike at both the executive session and regular meeting of the SIU Board of Trustees. At the executive session Wednesday at the Stone Center – which is the office place of SIU President Glenn Poshard – almost 200 students, faculty, staff and community
members with picket signs circled where the meeting was taking place. Those who participated voiced their opinions through chants such as, “Settle,� and “Whose university? Our university.� Through the windows of the conference room where the board met, noisemakers and loud chants could be heard. A motion was then made to close the public session to consider pending, probable or imminent court
proceedings against or on behalf of the board and to discuss “information regarding appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of employees or officers; acquisition of real property; review of executive session minutes; and collective negotiating matters," according to the meeting agenda. Please see BOARD | 2
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Veterans reflect on service, life after
LYNNETTE OOSTMEYER | DAILY EGYPTIAN
STEVE MATZKER | DAILY EGYPTIAN
Joshua Cho, a first-grader at Trinity Christian School in Carbondale, watches a flag ceremony Friday outside his school. In honor of
Veteran’s Day, cadets of the SIUC Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC spoke at the ceremony, changed the flag outside and participated in the color guard.
US Army Sgt. First Class Floyd Cavanaugh, left, and Villa Ridge American Legion member Angela Stovell, right, talk Friday after the Veterans Day ceremony in Cairo.
Members of the American Legion Post 178 and Cairo VFW Post 2649 attended, along with members from surrounding communities.
Soldiers remember time Mounds, Cairo veterans served at Alaskan base practice daily patriotism TARA KULASH Daily Egyptian Two military veterans sat down to swap service stories Friday during the Veteran’s Day lunch in the care unit of the Veteran's Affairs Nursing Home in Marion. John Brayfield, 80, served in the United States Air Force from 1951-55, and Gene Yearian, 59, served in the United States Army from 1977-80. Although years apart, both spent time stationed in Fairbanks, Alas., – Brayfield while it was Ladd Air Force Base and Yearian after it became Fort Wainwright Army Base in 1961. “It was just so beautiful up there,� Yearian said. “Every minute that I could, I went fishing.� Yearian said he requested to be stationed in Alaska. Brayfield and Yearian both reminisced about the June 21 solstice in the Alaska summer. “We had a full day of sun there,� Brayfield said. “We could see the Northern Lights from the base.�
The base was made after Congress granted $4 million to build a cold weather experimental station at Fairbanks in 1939, according to the Fairbanks information website. It was renamed Ladd Air Force Base in 1947, the website states, as it became the Alaskan Command — allowing Army, Navy and Air Force to work together — before it was given back to the Army as Fort Wainwright in 1961. At the end of the Korean War in 1953, Brayfield said he had to look for drowned pilots with his team and brought bodies home wrapped in plastic. He said it was also his job to deliver supplies by air to a research base on ice islands, named T1, T2 and T3. “We would fly out there and drop fuel and food and medical supplies,� he said. On his way to his station in Japan, Brayfield said his airplane started to putter out and he was forced to land on Wake Island in
the Pacific Ocean. “Have you ever been stranded on a deserted island?� Brayfield asked. “Three days I stayed on Wake Island waiting for the Navy to come repair that old plane.� He said there was a Navy weather station on the island, but it didn’t have enough food to accommodate Brayfield’s 47 passenger flight. The Japanese airline was able to feed them, though, he said. Yearian said sometimes he feels guilty when he’s thanked for his service, because he was in the Army during a time of peace. But he agreed it was still a risk when he enlisted because war was always a possibility. According to the VA Medical Center's website, the nursing home unit holds 60 beds and provides veterans care for rehabilitation, psych-geriatric care, respite, palliative care and general nursing.
Tara Kulash can be reached at tkulash@dailyegyptian. com or 536-3311 ext. 254.
SARAH SCHNEIDER Daily Egyptian After he shuffled out of his house and made sure his cap — decorated with war medals — was fit to his head, Bob Hogan walked down the street to meet a small group of friends to watch the Veterans Day memorial service. Hogan, a Cairo resident, said as the years pass, people have become less patriotic. More than 50 people were in attendance at the Cairo ceremony but Hogan, who served in World War II, said the turnout was much smaller compared to years ago. “I wish people were more patriotic and respected what these fellas have done, but I guess times change,� he said. “Most of us are getting so old we will be gone soon.� Hogan bowed his head and sang along with the National Anthem. He saluted as the colors were posted and took off his cap during the ceremony as he recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Being a veteran is not just showing up at an event once a year for many veterans of southern Illinois, including
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t’s my hobby, my world. My troops are my troops and I have to keep good care of them. — Jim Richards Vietnam war veteran of Mound City
Hogan, it is part of their everyday life. Buddy Walls, a Cairo resident and Veterans of Foreign War member, recited part of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in his keynote speech. He referenced it as one of the greatest speeches in United States history because it declared freedom for all people. “We are and continue to be a country by the people, for the people,� Walls said. The original speech was given in November 1863 when Lincoln dedicated the Gettysburg National Cemetery to the fallen soldiers of the battle where the death count was the highest of the Civil War. Not too far outside where the veterans reflected on both their time in the service and those who have been lost, thousands of fallen veterans are buried in the Mound City National Cemetery. Jim Richards and his
cousin Clayton Bierbaum, both Mound City residents, are part of the cemetery's burial team. “We have been pretty much attached to this place since we were kids,� Richards said. More than 9,000 veterans are buried at the cemetery, more than 2,600 unknown soldiers. According to the cemetery's brochure, every episode of American war and peace since the MexicanAmerican war is represented in the burials. Richards, who was a chief master sergeant in Thailand during the Vietnam war, said he spends most of his time either helping out at the cemetery or spending time with his friends at the VFW Post 2649. “It’s my hobby, my world,� he said. “My troops are my troops and I have to keep good care of them.� Please see VETERANS | 2