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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.
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