By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Elected officials, guests, and veterans from throughout Northern Kentucky were on hand for the annual City of Florence Veterans Day Program at the Government Center Friday evening.
The Florence Community Band and Chorus greeted the guest and performed throughout the evening.
Florence Mayor Diane Whalen said it is always great to see the community come together in recognition of its veterans.
The City also welcomed its adopted military unit, the U.S. Army Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
Known as The Renegades, the unit is based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and has attended many events in the city since they were adopted during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Capt. Joseph C. Knight, commander of the Renegades, provide an update on the unit’s activities and talked about the relationship between the City and its adopted unit.
The Renegades are currently on the Global Response Force and are on an on-call status to be among the first to respond if an incident arises.
“We are really happy to have this relationship and as soon as I came to the company, I started to hear about Florence,” Capt. Knight said. “Guys told me about the run they did the year before (and) about when they were on deployment in the past, care packages would arrive for the company from the residents of Florence and that’s really an awesome thing.”
Over the years, the Renegades have suffered casualties and the City of Florence has provided funds, through community contributioins, to recognize the fallen soldiers with a picture and certificate on a wall at Fort Campbell.
The Renegades honored their Veterans Day commitment to the residents of Florence, despite the loss of three soldiers from Fort Campbell in Jordan last week.
The soldiers died on Nov. 4 in Jafr, of wounds sustained when their convoy came under fire while entering a Jordanian military base.
Many of the 30 members of the Renegades who are in Florence will participate in Sunday’s St. Elizabeth Honor Run half marathon, some with full packs.
“The funds that are raised go to provide Honor Flights for our veterans to go to Washington D.C. to view their memorials,” Whalen said. “Last year the money raised by the Honor Run funded an entire plane of veterans.”
Darrin Smith, a social studies teacher at the Boone County Alternative Center for Education, talked about how he uses artifacts from his own family’s military history to motivate his students.
The students are currently involved in a project to research the military history of some of the veterans in the Florence Cemetery.
Smith said he hopes to accomplish a few goals with the program, called the Florence Project.
“I wanted the students to act as real historians, so they were looking at primary sources to draw their own conclusions from that,” Smith said. “We of course, wanted to honor to honor those military veterans, most of all. We also kind of wanted to take the cemetery from being a place not many people want to go and hang out, to really being a valuable greenspace and an educational space.”
The students have produced a video highlighting some of the cemetery’s veterans and are working with the Northern Kentucky College of Informatics to make the information available for visitors.
The program concluded with the playing of “Taps” to recognize those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service of their country, followed by a small reception in the Government Center lobby.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com