ASHLAND — Speeches around the country on Monday were sure to highlight the heroic acts of military veterans, a chaplain at the American Legion Post 88 said.
But Donald Earlenbaugh decided to take his speech in a different direction on Veterans Day in Ashland.
“I’d like to honor those of us who may not have done anything outstanding, but faithfully served the country. We did our best. But we’ve mainly been forgotten,” Earlenbaugh said.
Earlenbaugh, 87, served in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1955-1963.
“I served in peace time,” he said. “I was never shot at. I was never in active service. I only fired seven shots through an Agent 45 caliber pistol.”
The retired pastor said he felt embarrassed by his service for many years.
“But after being in contact with you guys, I realized that the time that I served was just as significant,” he said to the room of veterans gathered.
Following his short message to roughly 50 veterans, the group stepped outside for a 21-gun salute and Taps, led by the Ashland Veterans Honor Guard.
Ashland police briefly closed Claremont Avenue between Franklin and Mifflin avenues for the ceremony. Afterward, veterans were invited to eat lunch inside.
Jeff Blake, 76, sat eating a slice of pumpkin pie. The Ashland native served two years in the U.S. Army, from 1968 to 1970. Blake worked full-time as an assistant manager at a lumber yard when, at 20, he was drafted.
He remembered standing in an auditorium in Cleveland when they told him which branch of the military would seal his fate for the next unspecified amount of time of his life.
“They went down the line and said ‘Marine, Marine, Marine’ and then ‘Army’ when they got to me,” he said. “So I was almost a Marine.”
From Cleveland, they put the draftees in an airplane destined for Covington, Kentucky, where they loaded into a bus headed for Fort Knox. He completed his basic training with flying colors and scored high enough on tests to secure a job at Fort Lewis, in the state of Washington, processing active duty members destined for overseas tours.
He considers himself lucky for not being sent abroad during his service.
Blake finished his service as an E5, a sergeant. He married his wife in June 1969, while serving. They lived together in Tacoma during his two-year stint.
“We never knew … when the levy came down, we never knew if I’d be gone or not,” he said, adding he considered himself lucky.
Some might argue Blake was just dutiful.
“I wanna commend you men and women who served day by day, following orders you didn’t always understand. Maybe you didn’t agree with it, but you did it anyway,” Earlenbaugh, the chaplain, said Monday morning.
“You carried out the mission of which you were assigned. After you were done, there were no commendations, no congratulations. There were no pats on the back.”