Travel Destination Branson Look for the Hats L
ive Entertainment Capital Branson, Missouri is dedicated to honoring our Nation’s brave soldiers and military personnel
year round. They do that in part by providing festivities such as Veterans Homecoming held during Veterans Week in November, Independence Day celebration, Memorial Day ceremonies and more. This tiny town of 4,000 in the Missouri Ozarks has earned a reputation as being one of the most hospitable places in the nation for veterans. In 1997 some 40,000 veterans enjoyed their military reunions here in America’s Heartland with numbers growing every year since. Branson welcomes all branches of the military, Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard, National Guard, Reserves and Merchant Marines, active duty, inactive or retired. You can’t go far without seeing a veteran sporting their branch insignia on a hat as a crowning glory! Known for its live entertainment and events of all kinds, many entertainers have special performances to honor our nation’s heroes with incredible shows of unabashed patriotism. I can recall being around 8 years old the day in 1968 that my mom announced our fi rst trip to Branson, Missouri. It would be the fi rst of many as Branson was to hold a special place in my life for the next 40 years-and still does to this day. In my childhood years I remember Branson as being a place of healing. We had lost my father, Master Sgt Douglas Porter Riley in the Vietnam War on March 18, 1968 at the age of 36. Dad was to be home from Vietnam in 2 weeks and we were planning his homecoming after a 12 month tour of duty. As you can imagine, I was a very excited 8 year old daughter. I can still remember
every detail of the day that my mom picked me up early from school with tears in her eyes. I can clearly remember to this day the upholstery of the Chevy 10 I was riding in when my mom told my younger sister and me the “news”. I knew at that moment my life was to be changed forever. I remember the taps and 21 gun salute that was played at his military funeral and I remember the pride involved with ceremony of it all. I remember the fl ag and how very careful and meticulous the soldiers were that folded it over his grave. I remember the smell of the grass and the wind blowing in my hair. Mostly I remember knowing that my life was to be changed forever and that I wasn’t afraid. The week before his death we received orders for all of us to move to Germany. The fear of moving yet again and this time so far away was at the time scarier than staying in the safe and small home town of my precious grandmother. It had taken 3 weeks for his body to make it back from overseas. The waiting time was very hard on my mother and that was the hardest part for me. Months later we were fi nally told the details of his death. My father was actually fatally injured in downtown Taiwan when a city bus collided with the motor-scooter he was driving. It is our understanding that he was on his way to have the new stripes sewn on his uniform as he had made rank a few days earlier. The accounts of his death were as uncertain as those that are killed in active combat. We never really got the closure of knowing for sure how he actually died. He had been writing letters to my mom about the unrest of locals with our military troops. One of his roommates had been killed in a local club just two weeks earlier. The climate of war touches many
46 VETERAN FAMILY NETWORK h AUGUST 2011
lives and not always on the battlefi eld. My mom fl ew the American fl ag on the front porch of our home in Moberly, Missouri for as long as I can
remember.
She never
doubted or denied the sacrifi ce that she made. She suff ered a silent pain with the dignity of a war wife. His death did nothing to lessen the fi erce pride she felt for her military family and her love of country- in fact it deepened it. As a young girl I remember her taking us to the Air Force Base in Knobnoster, Missouri where I had been born. She wanted us to connect to the roots that had formed our lives and of course take
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