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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2016)
28 Wednesday, May 18, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon CITY: Honoring veterans wounded and killed in action Continued from page 3 photo by kelly Davis Martin Black Butte School students pitched in to help their neighbors. Students help those in need in Camp Sherman By Kelly Davis Martin Correspondent The Black Butte School and their Parent Teacher Organization worked together to organize a community connections and stewardship event last week. The Black Butte School PTO chair, Jane Petke, organized to send students, teachers and parents with their rakes, gloves, flowers and soil to spend a few hours giving back to the community that constantly supports them. Rachel Gonzalez, a parent and Camp Sherman local, worked closely with the head teacher, Delaney Sharp, to identify Camp Sherman community members who may benefit from help with a spring yard spruce-up. The school formed three teams to spend time with Elke Dortmund, who recently lost her spouse; Catherine Livingston, who is just about to turn 101 years old; and Heidi Fernandez, who is healing from a leg injury. Students worked to tidy up yards and they came with flowers and a hanging plants to share. They pulled weeds, raked, dug in and got dirty. “It’s nice to help someone else. We cleaned up pinecones and didn’t even throw them! It was fun pushing Talon in the wheelbarrow, too,” said Taine Martin, a fifth grader. The event wrapped up at the school with a picnic for community members and the school. The service-based- learning project allowed students to apply their spring-term focus around farming and the overarching ethos of the school to connect with the local community and environment. other Oregon cities that have established themselves as Purple Heart Cities. Included in those are our Central Oregon neighbors of Madras, Redmond, Bend, La Pine and Prineville. Local Sisters veterans were in attendance at City Hall and looked on proudly as Mayor Chris Frye read the proclamation. Purple Heart recipient and Sisters resident Pat Bowe spoke on behalf of the military veterans who live in Sisters. He talked about the significance of the Purple Heart medal and shared his feeling that the medal really represents the military personnel who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for their country. Bowe served two tours totaling 18 months in Vietnam as a paratrooper in the 173rd Airborne. In 1965 he was a 19-year-old who was part of the first combat jump on the Cambodian border. As a result of being “hit by shrapnel and a couple of grenades” during his first tour, Bowe received his first Purple Heart. They patched him up in the hospital in Vietnam and sent him back into battle. His second Purple Heart came as a result of being ambushed and shot in the stomach. That wound meant a month in the hospital in Vietnam and another eight months stateside. He made a good recovery and was able to spend 33 years working in law-enforcement in the Willamette Valley. Bowe came to Sisters six years ago and said, “I wish I had come 30 years ago. I love it here.” He is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and also has memberships in the American Legion, the Disabled American Vets, and the Purple Heart Society. Bowe drives the red pickup that pulls the veterans float in the Rodeo Parade and the Christmas Parade every year. General George Washington commissioned the forerunner to the Purple Heart, the Badge of Military Merit, in 1782 and awarded it to three Revolutionary War soldiers. It was the first medal to be awarded to the ordinary soldier; previously that honor had been reserved for officers. In 1931, on the 200th anniversary of Washington’s birth, today’s Purple Heart was created and made retroactive to April 5, 1917, the day before the United States entered World War I. photo by sue staFForD Pat Bowe. The medal itself is heart-shaped with a purple background surrounded by a border of gold with a bust profile of Washington on the front. Above the heart appears a shield of the coat- of-arms of Washington (a white shield with two horizontal red bars and three red stars) between sprays of green leaves. The reverse consists of a raised bronze heart with the words FOR MILITARY MERIT below the coat of arms and leaves. The ribbon from which the medal hangs is purple with narrow white stripes on either edge. Out West Realty — Serving all of Central Oregon — Principal Broker ABR, CDPE,CIAS, GRI, SRES 541-480-0183 www.sandygoodsell.com Licensed Broker in the State of Oregon This ad sponsored by The Nugget Newspaper in support of Deschutes Land Trust.
