Tag Archives: Veterans Day

Remembering Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis

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On this Veterans Day, I want to tell you about Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis, a remarkable woman who enlisted as a Navy Flight Nurse and volunteered for service in Korea and Vietnam. I learned about her at the Hagen History Center in Erie, Pa. 

Born in 1925, Bobbi grew up in Erie County, PA and graduated from the Western Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing in 1946. During her service in Korea, she flew the Pacific with the 1453rd Medical Evacuation Squadron that evacuated 16,604 injured without any fatalities. In Vietnam, she witnessed at least four coup d’etats. She was shot at once and kept the bullet that narrowly missed her. 

Exposed to Agent Orange during her service, she suffered its effects until her death in 2024. 

Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis was tough as nails.

This museum has her flight jacket, her service medals and a Green Beret given to Bobbi by a grateful patient. It was the only thing he had to give and was one of her most prized possessions. They also have a jet helmet that Bobbi wore on a classified mission assisting a flight surgeon on a Douglas F3D Skynight jet. She was the first Navy flight nurse to go on this type of mission. 

She authored a book titled Station Hospital Saigon, A Nurse In Vietnam and they have a copy of that book as well. 

Lt. Commander Hovis retired in 1967 after twenty years of service. In 2019 she was interviewed for a Vietnam War 50th anniversary oral history project. You can watch that video here if you are so inclined. 

I was fascinated by the photo of this pretty lady and did my best to imagine her dodging bullets, wading through blood and muck while she performed whatever heroics earned her all those medals. I could not fathom what that must have been like. She was a pioneer, a hero and one of many women who served who deserve our gratitude. 

History is full of incredible stories about real people like Lt. Commander Bobbi Hovis. If you have a veteran in your life, remember to say thanks for their service. They may not get museum displays or tell you their stories but they deserve our thanks. 

Honor Our Veterans

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Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere who bravely bears his country’s cause.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Freedom doesn’t come free. Democracy isn’t a guaranteed right. Freedom and Liberty for all are just words unless there are people prepared to fight and die for the cause.

We owe our nation, our freedom and everything we have to the brave men and women of all branches of the American military.

If you see a veteran today, tell them thanks for what they do. If you’re reading this and you are a veteran or active duty military – thank you.

Veterans Day

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It’s hard for me to pass up vintage pictures. In fact, I have a small box of photos of strangers that I’ve picked up in antique stores and junk shops over the years.

I call them “the family.”

I mostly buy candid photos rather than portraits. Occasionally they are labeled but they typically have no names or years, no stories, and no way to identify the people in the photos.

Sometimes I buy them because the photos are cool and I simply like old photos. It also makes me sad to see them languishing in a box on the floor, unwanted and without anyone to remember them.

This 8×10 of a sailor was a dollar in Denver last year. He looks like just a kid and I’m sure he was. It’s not labeled. No name or year.

I wonder what ever happened to him. I hope he made it home. I wonder if there’s anyone left in his family to even know his name or wonder what he looked like or how smart he looked on his uniform.

Our history is teeming with stories of young men and women who joined up, generously signing that proverbial blank check to our nation. Far too many don’t ever make it home. Others do but leave a piece of themselves in far off lands, instead bringing home more trauma than anyone should have to endure.

On this Veterans Day, I hope we all will remember that.

Say thanks to a veteran in your life. Say thanks to a stranger. Be grateful to the kids like this one who you never knew. After all, they served for all of us even though they didn’t know us either.

It’s the least we can do.

Veterans Day

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A flag waves in the breeze in Downtown Marietta Ohio on a late summer day.

Today is Veterans Day. Many Americans know this as a day off work and an opportunity shop sales but the day has nothing to do with shopping.

In 1918, in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice to cease fighting on the Western Front was signed by the Allied powers and Germany.

World War I was over.

President Woodrow Wilson declared this day Armistice Day and it was later adopted as a national holiday known as Veterans Day.

In the years since, we’ve had plenty of young men and women continue to sign a blank check to this country, committed to serve in any way they are needed.

Memorial Day is for honoring the dead. Today is for honoring all veterans. Do your part and thank a veteran today if you get a chance.

We owe them everything.