I thought it only fitting to share our veterans breakfast on Memorial Day weekend to celebrate our veterans.
Wow….this past Saturday was such an amazing day. Back in December, RAK hosted a Christmas dinner for our veterans. Birthed from the small gathering of our dedicated service members came an awesome gathering of over one-hundred people on Saturday, May 20th, to honor our veterans and bring special recognition to our WWII veterans. There were five WWII veterans in attendance. It was such an honor to have such great men present that gave such sacrifice with no hesitation. I will take some time in a future blog to highlight each of these great men. There were thirty-eight veterans and five active-duty Marines in attendance, additionally one U.S. Army recruit, Logan Carkeek.
We additionally had the honor of a special veteran in attendance, Jimmie LeRoy Filer, USN, Communication Technician First Class. Jim lost his battle with cancer but won the war for the Kingdom of the Lord. Jim’s presence was felt by many as he touched many. Jim joined Navy at 19 years of age. Jim graduated 1st in class for Serbo-Croatian and 2nd in class for Russian. Jim was awarded the Maxwell D. Taylor Award for Outstanding Service man of the year.
The special guest speaker, Major David McGrath, Marine Officer Instructor and Professor of Naval Science kept the crowd engaged in the life of the present marine. Major McGrath served as a scout sniper and reconnaissance marine prior to attending The Citadel. Major McGrath had eleven combat tours, including Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, and South/Central America. Major McGrath has orders to Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia this summer.
In addition to the great speaker we had the privilege of have Mark and Linda Thesken provide an artist painting during the breakfast. We all were so blessed to have such talent present an awesome rendering of a solider in prayer.
And what event would be possible without great help. I must say that we were blessed with the best group of people to make this event be what it was. Thank you to all!!
I hope everyone enjoys the pictures and I’ll add commentary as appropriate.
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