Royal High School's Veterans Day celebration features warrior
Ted Escobar/The Sun Tribune - Also attending Royal High’s salute to veterans was a group of central Washington biker vets.
Ted Escobar/The Sun Tribune - The Central Washington University ROTC, which includes Royal High graduate Reed Lefler, presents the colors.
Ted Escobar/The Sun Tribune - Col Gary R. Stephens, US Army retired, addresses the Royal High School student assembly at the Veterans Day Celebration.
ROYAL CITY — Royal High School students, who have a Veterans Day celebration every year, heard last week from a retired U.S. Army warrior.
But Col. Gary R. Stephens was at the student assembly not to share war stories but to encourage the students to familiarize themselves with the Constitution. Stephens brought 600 pocket-sized copies to pass out to students and educators.
Stephens noted that a business in Ogden, Utah, Smith & Edwards, has a goal of passing out one million. The owners gladly passed the 600 on to him.
Stephens served in Korea and Vietnam. He has a bucket-full of medals and citations to show for it.
In Korea, Stephens was the Air Operations Officer/Aviation Commander, 8th Army. He was the Company Commander, 224th Aviation Battalion, in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, Stephens flew the Army’s lone air vehicle at the time, the Mohawk Turbo Prop airplane. He flew reconnaissance flights at 150 feet above the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He did the same in Cambodia and Laos.
But the toughest assignment he had in the military was notifying next of kin of the death of a loved one. He did it 12 times and never got used to it.
Stephens left the Army in 1996 after 28 years of service and 38 moves. He settled in Utah, where he is a business and military consultant.
Stephens spoke to the Royal students about the role of a soldier in relation to the Constitution, which is to defend it. He suggested they read and understand it, and he helped with some of the understanding.
“The American soldier’s oath is unlike any other,” Stephens said. “We take an oath to defend the Constitution. In England they take an oath to defend the king. In Germany during World War II, they took an oath to defend the Führer.”
Stephens served with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for two years in Heidelberg, Germany. He was part of a 360,000-person international military force.
“The army group is gone now,” he lamented.
And he said the U.S. military, while still superior to others, is not as strong as it once was.