The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/599049
The Press-Dispatch Local Wednesday, November 11, 2015 A- 11 Ben Franklin Crafts Northwood Park Shopping Center • Hwy. 231 N. • Jasper • 812-482-3060 Mon-Fri 9am–8pm, Sat 9am–7pm, Sun 11am–4pm CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE Friday • Saturday • Sunday November 13, 14, 15 SAVE 25% off all Christmas items, decorations, trees, cards and MORE! Visit with Mrs. Clause Fri. & Sat. See our selection of new trees and Christmas decorations. Treats for everyone! Preschool class plays drums Lindsey Williams' morning preschool class plays the drums they made. The students were learning about different musical instruments. Pictured are: Ashley Cassitty, Adalynn Martin, Liam Jones, Zach Johnson, Levi Reinhart, Logan Thomas, Noah Poselwait, Logan Norris, Liam Poselwait and Jazlyn Le- mond. See you at the heartbeat of the Washington We will also be at the Chandelier Country Christmas Christmas Stroll FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 NOVEMBER 13 & 14 in Montgomery SPECIALS throught THE STORE! 218 E. Main St., Washington, IN 812-254-0576 Tuesday–Friday 10:30–6, Saturday 10:30–3 YON Continued from page 1 A fter his second stint with the Army, he was up- set because they wouldn't let him go to infantry. So when it came time for his re-enlistment, he took a two-month break. Because of the two-month break in his services, he lost bene- fits. "No one explained that to me. I didn't care. To me it was all about the fun. I enjoyed what I was doing and I really liked the guys in the unit. Then I got in for a year and budget cuts hit. We were lit- erally walking around in the woods saying 'bang! bang! you are dead.' It was embarrass- ing. I did one more year and got out." Yon had been home for about two months and was standing in the checkout line at Walmart when his old National Guard platoon lead- er walked up behind him. "He said, 'Hey, Yon, we are go- ing to Bosnia.' The next day, I signed up." It was after signing up that he told his girl- friend Jana. "I think we were engaged then." He was sent to Louisiana, where he went through exten- sive advanced training. "I was amazed that in the Guard, I was doing way more stuff than they would let us do in the Army." In between training in Louisiana and getting sent to Bosnia, he was back in Petersburg work- ing at Four Star Fabrica- tors when 9/11 happened. "You talk about anger. All the guys I served with can tell you where they were standing when that happened. That was my generation's Pearl Harbor." "I was working at Four- Star. Production shut down. There wasn't a grinder or welder running. I went into the office and they had it on." He immediately called the National Guard Ar- mory to check in. "We were under attack. I couldn't get through. It took me five or six times to get through to Charlie Selby, our retention secre- tary. I said I wanted to go to Iraq. . . I wanted to kick somebody's ass." He said the reason he couldn't get through to the Armory was because everyone else was calling in and volunteering to go to Iraq. "Charlie told me, 'I don't have to activate anyone. They are all call- ing in.'" Then he was told he couldn't go to Iraq because he was signed up to go to Bosnia. "I thought, 'I'm not going to miss out on this.' Thank God I missed out on that mission and went to Bos- nia. They were sent to an airport and spent months watching baggage go by," said Yon about those first assignments after 9/11. He said they basically had to do airport security. Instead, he was sent to Bosnia as part of a peace- keeping force. "They had quit fighting, but the war wasn't over. They had just withdrawn and were waiting for us to leave so the could go back to fighting," said Yon. "Nobody won that war. They destroyed their whole country." He said they basically were out on patrol around the towns. "It was kind of like police not making ar- rests, but just being seen giving the area a sense of security." "We were in an area close to the Croatia border. In the town of Morgrecia. . . We would travel through the towns. (The) danger- ous part of the threat was the mine fields. There were mines everywhere." "It was an absolute trag- edy, what they did in that war. Mines are the perfect solider, they don't sleep, or rest or surrender, and they don't know the war is over." He said mostly his group's role was to keep those in power from sin- gling out an old enemy. "We were keeping an eye on the local police force. Organized crime was ev- erywhere. They basically had no government." One of their missions was to go out and collect weapons from the people of the area. "We are walking around the mountains say- ing 'We are NATO Peace Keepers, we will take your weapons off your hands.' It sounded ridiculous. If you did that around here, you would get shot." He said in Bosnia, peo- ple had a different attitude about it. We were supposed to do this for two weeks, but we brought in so much stuff, they cut off the pro- gram after three days be- cause they couldn't handle the volume. "The villages and coun- tryside were packed with explosives, RPGs, mine OES and Caseys raise money for St. Jude Otwell Elementary participated with Caseys General Store to raise money for St. Jude. The class who brought in the most money was rewarded with a pizza party. Terra Knust's second grade class was the winners. Pictured ( l to r): Madisyn Mile, Kiersten Wirthwein, Anna O'Brien, Shyann Blessinger, Lucy Yon, Avi- on Murry, Lila Taylor, Corbin Traylor, Collin Ahrens, Jace Kell, Matthew Baker, Silas Anson, Keith Per- kins, Abby Boyd, Rueger Troutman, Landon Hart, Kynlee Jaskson, Raeleigh McCracken, Kylee Weath- ers, Sophie Boyd and Hattie Yager. A war monument at Soldiers' Square in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein built the monu- ment which had large base filled with helmets of their victims on the battlefield. Brooks Yon holds an M4 with an M203 grenade launch- er. Continued on page 12