Tom Terrell provided the Veterans Day program this year, as he has for a number of years, introducing four veterans and telling a bit about their service stories.
Left to right: Rotarian Ed Hamilton, Keith Selvey, Beck Gibson, and Vernon Ollar.
Ed Hamilton was a USAF Lieutenant Colonel, and served tours in Europe and Vietnam. He flew an AC-130 cargo plane and also was a helicopter pilot. He had numerous experiences, including one time his brakes failed and he went off the end of a runway. Ed calmly backed the plane up, and later realized he had gone into a mine field at the end of the runway. He retired in 1975 after 20 years in the Air Force, and moved to Kerrville, and has made his home here ever since.
Keith Selvey, pictured above as the captain of this high school football team, was in the infantry in the Army in WWII. He was the fourth of eleven children, and was drafted in June 1941. By 1944 he was promoted to sergeant, and was sent to the island of New Britain. He fought the Japanese and had several close brushes with mortality, fighting out of a fox hole and spending 120 straight days in the jungle in combat. After the war, Keith became a commanding officer in the National Guard.
Beck Gipson was a warrant officer in the US Army during the Vietnam War. He wanted to fly planes but ended up flying helicopters instead. Beck had several close calls including one instance where his helicopter was losing power and crash landed 100 yards from shore. He helped his companions swim to shore and later found out he had ruptured disks in his back.
Vernon Ollar served in the US Army in World War II, achieving the rank of corporal. He was part of the D-Day invasion at Normandy, and his craft took a hit near Omaha Beach. They hailed another craft and transferred their gear, but had to disembark in 6' of water. They improvised by using life preservers on top of their equipment to float to shore. Their first assignment was to support the Rangers, who lost sixty percent of their men. His next duty included eleven months serving in France. Vern later returned to Normandy in 2014 and was honored in a special memorial event.
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