Veterans Day 2022

On behalf of the KMHS Board, we wish you all a joyful Veterans Day. We celebrate with gratitude and remembrance all those who have served and sacrificed for our country. As mentioned in our recent newsletter, please take pause for at least 11 seconds this Friday, 11/11, to give thanks!

There are less than 240,000 WW2 veterans still alive today. Some even have that number closer to 175,000. These are living witnesses to both the terror and triumph of the war, that 16 million who served experienced firsthand. KMHS is thankful that we still have 2 of our veterans from the Kassel Mission with us - Ray Lemons and Jim Baynham. Coincidently, both were on the same plane that fateful day. Jim was a 20-year-old B-24 pilot and Ray was a 24-year-old waist gunner. Like the rest of the group, their plane was carrying a load of eight 1000-pound demolition bombs. Pretty heavy responsibility! We cherish the fact that they are both still with us and continue to share their stories as war veterans at 98 and 102 respectively.

Though KMHS is chartered with the remembrance of all Kassel Mission participants, we honor and recognize the service and sacrifice of all veterans. We are also fortunate to have among our members 2 non-WW2 veterans who have given much to KMHS. We would like to acknowledge and thank Jerry Pitman and Rob Rumbsy for both their participation in our Armed Services and their gracious contributions to KMHS. Jerry and Rob have been outstanding in both time and resources contributed to the goals and charter of KMHS. Veterans helping veterans. Thank you!

With gratitude and thanks, we wish all veterans, especially Ray, Jim, Jerry, and Rob, a wonderful Veterans Day.