REGION HONORS VETERANS

JACKSON -- Had it not been for all of modern society's trappings and advancements, Thursday's Fourth of July celebration at Jackson might have passed for a post-World War II homecoming ceremony.

Instead, the celebration parade featured cars and trucks from the 1990s and earlier, as well as high-tech military vehicles. The war fought by the celebration's guests of honor, the veterans of Operation Desert Storm, followed the United States' involvement in World War II by about half a century.

The sun Thursday bathed the parade route, which cut through downtown Jackson. Shortly after the parade started, a silver Air Force Mustang flew over the route three times, the buzz of its propeller more than moderately audible.

U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, credited the Persian Gulf War veterans Thursday with halting the aggression of Saddam Hussein's forces.

"What we have just done in Kuwait, in my view, was stop a cancer that would only have gotten worse," Emerson said in an address late Thursday morning after the parade.

Speaking at the Jackson City Park's band shell, Emerson said he had no doubt Saddam had his eye not only on Kuwait, but also Saudi Arabia, the Arab Emirates and even Israel. Saddam's goal, he said, was to control 70 percent of the world's oil supply, and thus the world's economies.

"We could not let that happen we would not let that happen and, for that, your nation owes you an eternal debt of gratitude," he told the veterans.

Emerson's address preceded a flyby by two F-4E jet fighters from St. Louis. The grayish-green jets streaked by the audience with a shrill scream just as master of ceremonies Mary Ann Maloney, anchorwoman at KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, finished recognizing veterans of U.S. conflicts from World War I to the Persian Gulf War.

"They couldn't have timed that better," Maloney said.

Three area veterans of the Persian Gulf War delivered remarks at the ceremony. The veterans, Jim Hutson, Brenda Taul and Richard Kensey, are all members of a Naval reserve fleet hospital.

Taul of Jackson said she was selected to speak for the women who served in the war.

"I want to say, `Ladies, we did it. We went and served along with the men. I feel we were just as vital a part as the guys were.'"

Also, she said she wanted to take the time to mention "the troops at home," which she identified as the veterans' families and friends who watched over the veterans' interest while they were away. She said the love and support of families and friends were important to the troops.

"I want to say, `Thank you'. I think all the troops should give their families a big hand," she said. The audience responded with a round of applause.

Kensey compared his experience in foreign countries to here at home.

During a previous stint in the Army, he said, he served two years in West Germany at the East German-Czechoslovakia border. While there, he said, he witnessed the expressions of people living in the Soviet-bloc countries, and told himself he didn't want to live like that.

Now, while in the Naval Reserve, he said, he has spent time on the island of Bahrain. Even though Bahrain is a liberated country, he said, he still looked at the people and told himself he didn't want to live like that.

"So then I come home and (there's) all the yellow ribbons and all the flags and the patriotic fervor here; and the support from the families, from the communities and the nation as a whole; and I say, `I want to live like this.'"

Decorated Vietnam veteran Blair Moran of Sikeston was the guest speaker Thursday. Near the end of his address, Moran, who served in the Army, read off nine names. Three of the names belonged to people from St. Louis, while two others belonged to people from Columbia. The rest were names of individuals from Hazelwood, Independence, Blue Springs and Houstonia.

"Now I doubt if any of these names register with any of you here today, but my friends these were the brave Missourians who wore the uniform of our country in the Persian Gulf War and paid the supreme price with their lives for our freedom," Moran said. "When they came home from that war, they came home in a coffin draped in our flag, Old Glory."

A military veteran from Cairo, Ill., Jimmy Cox, sang "God Bless America" to piano accompaniment following Moran's address. He then went on to explain the history of the song before leading audience members in singing it.

With music still playing in the background, Cox told the audience that Irving Berlin had written the song for an Army show after joining the Army during World War I. The show was held to raise money for the war effort, he said.

Even though Berlin realized the song would be a potential hit, he had it shelved and designated that it should never be used again. Cox said Berlin had not wanted to make money off flag-waving patriotism.

The song sat unused for 20 years until 1938, he said, when Kate Smith convinced Berlin to let her use the song for an Armistice Day radio show. From that point on, the song became the greatest patriotic song ever, he said.

After releasing the song, Cox said, Berlin designated that any money made off the song be given to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.

"That's in America and that's a patriot," Cox said. "We can't all be Irving Berlins, but we can all do our little bit to be a patriot."