Temple honors military with annual event

Joel Valley/Telegram file Retired Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk, left, shakes hands with former Navy Seaman Dennis Gottschalk during Temple Chamber of Commerce’s 2019 Military Appreciation Luncheon.

BY ERIC E. GARCIA

TELEGRAM CITY EDITOR

Temple’s strong ties to the military go back decades.

The city — which housed Central Texas’ first Army hospital — honors veterans and active military each year with an appreciation event.

The Temple Chamber of Commerce holds an annual Military Appreciation Luncheon for the community to express its gratitude to those serving the armed forces.

The event was started by longtime Telegram publisher Frank W. Mayborn as a way to honor Fort Hood soldiers.

“What is unique about this whole thing — and this is the one item a lot of people don’t remember — Fort Hood happened because of Temple, Texas, and because of Frank Mayborn and the committee Frank Mayborn had at the Temple Chamber of Commerce,” Chamber president Rod Henry said. “That’s where it all began.”

In 1942, the U.S. Army awarded Temple with an army hospital that was activated in June of that year, during World War II.

The hospital — now part of the Temple VA campus — grew into one of the Army’s largest hospitals and was noted for its work on orthopedic cases, amputation and neurosurgery.

The hospital, later known as McCloskey Veterans Administration Center, was renamed in honor of U.S. Rep. Olin E. Teague, Veterans Affairs chairman for 18 years and a former patient of the facility.

Those historic ties are honored with the annual appreciation event. Details about the 37th annual event have not been released yet.

The chamber held a drivethrough event with to-go meals last year during the coronavirus pandemic.

The event was renamed last year as the 36th Military & First Responder Appreciation Celebration due to the inclusion of honoring local emergency responders on the frontlines of fighting the pandemic.

Henry said the theme for the 2020 event was unity within community.

“Every one of the key components of the luncheon program that would have been held are being videotaped,” Henry told the Telegram.

The entire appreciation event was compiled into a video posted on the chamber’s Facebook page before the 2020 Veterans Day.

Henry said the video included most of what attendees at the previous events would experience, including speeches from local leaders and the honoring of former veterans.

eegarcia@tdtnews.com