On Nov. 11, 2011 veteran Colonel Don Watson sat in the JBK recalling his years at WTAMU and when he first went off to fight in the Vietnam War. He remembers the friends he made and the ones he lost.
In 1973, WT honored students who had died fighting in the war. The first eleven names found were honored with street signs.
The street signs were named after the following: Sergeant Larry May, Captain Ronald Blair, 1st Lieutenant Jimmy Bean, Captain Jimmy Brasher, Lieutenant Carlos Pedrosa, Private First Class Stephen Geurin, Sergeant Keith Rowell, Lieutenant Ron Smithee, Captain James Hansard, Sergeant Cal Johnson and Captain Russell Slough.
“When I see the street signs… they are faces to me because they are my classmates,” Watson said.Watson appreciated the idea but was concerned with how it might insult those families whose child did not get a street sign.
“We wanted equal honor for all of those, and how do you do that because you are going to leave somebody out?” Watson asked.
A plaque at the Virgil Henson Activities Center lists the names of all of the students who died in the Vietnam War, including those who did not get a street sign named in honor of them. Watson knew every man on that list, including his old roommate and a drill team buddy.
“Coming from a university which had such good support for its former students meant a lot to us and it still does,” Watson said.
According to Watson, WT has always been a supporter of the military and their students. Even when other places and people were not supportive of the military and protested, WT stood in support.
“That was really exciting for us to know of WT’s support of its veterans and former students,” said Watson. “In the service when I got on active duty, I talked to a lot of the officers whose schools weren’t supportive at all.”
Watson had to deal with many situations in which soldiers were disrespected. As a result, he has been especially appreciative of WT’s support.
“You don’t necessarily have to support the war, but you really need to support the personnel,” he said.
For Veteran’s Day, Student Government sponsored an event with guest speaker Sergeant Robert West of Cannon Air Force Base. Each year, WT holds some form of an event to honor veterans.
“The veterans are the ones who keep you free,” Fred Rangel, president of the Texas Panhandle War Memorial, said. “It’s not the politicians. It’s the veterans. It’s the people on the grounds.”
Watson decided it was important that WT faculty and students were honored at the Texas Panhandle War Memorial in Amarillo and worked to come up with a list of names to be engraved onto a monument. The Texas Panhandle War Memorial members agreed and it was financially supported by WT. Watson found as many names as he could from World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and the Korean War.
