Arlington has a rich history of recognizing the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our country.
The town’s Veterans Day program, held every year since 2005, took place on Sunday, Nov. 6, at The Crossing Amphitheater at Forrest Street Park near historic Union Depot.
“We appreciate our veterans,” U.S. Army Vietnam veteran and Arlington Vice Mayor Harry McKee said. “If you go up to College Hill Park, you’ll see a plaque for the veterans who have passed away.”
U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., was among the elected officials on hand for the event, and he addressed the veterans, active-duty service members and their families in attendance.
“There’s no doubt because of you our nation is safe, it’s free, and it’s seen as a beacon of hope around the world,” he said. “The security that we enjoy each day is possible because of their service and their sacrifice. The one thing I think we all have to remember is that freedom is never free. We’ve got to fight to preserve…and protect it.”
U.S. Air Force veteran and Arlington Chamber of Commerce board member Brian Elder served as the master of ceremonies, and U.S. Army World War II veteran Olin Pickenswas the day’s guest speaker.
“When the battle was going on, that was the most noise I’ve ever heard in my life. Everybody was shooting at each other, and the smoke was everywhere. I could hear the bullets go by, and none of them ever struck me. Jesus was guarding me in that front I really believe.”
Olin Pickens
World War II veteran
Pickens, now age 100, became a POW while executing a mission to capture German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel in North Africa in February 1943. He spent 26 months in captivity, escaping once before being returned to his German captors.
He described what happened to him and his colleagues during the “suicide mission” on the edge of the Sahara Desert that was one of the largest tank battles during the war.
“When the battle was going on, that was the most noise I’ve ever heard in my life. Everybody was shooting at each other, and the smoke was everywhere. I could hear the bullets go by, and none of them ever struck me,” he said. “Jesus was guarding me in that front I really believe.”
When the battle ended, he was on his own, and tried to hide from the Germans by pulling cacti over himself since his uniform was the same color as the sand. He was discovered by an Arab man, who ended up turning him in to the Germans for 200 francs, or the equivalent of $1.
“That’s the maddest I’ve ever been in my whole life when he turned me in for $1,” Pickens said. “I lost my freedom, my dignity and my pride right there, but I didn’t lose my faith.”
He found out later that 75 of the 250 men in his outfit had been killed in the battle, and the other 175 had been captured. None had escaped.
Pickens spent time over the next two-plus years in a variety of German stalag POW camps, enduring hard labor, bitterly cold winters and what he describes as a starvation diet with barely enough soup, potatoes and bread each day to survive.
After escaping to Prague with a fellow U.S. soldier in May 1944, they were caught and placed in isolation in dungeons for 21 days.
“He (the German officer) thought he was putting me in there by myself, but Jesus went ahead of me,” Pickens said. “And he was with me all the time.”
He says the intense loneliness was the worst of the experience.
Pickens and the other prisoners were released and returned home in April 1945.
“One of the happiest days in my life. I got my freedom back,” he said.
Well-known Arlington resident and U.S. Air Force veteran Hugh Lamar summed the emotional day up.
“We just want to honor our veterans in Arlington,” he said. “It was a beautiful day today, and this is one of several events we do every year to recognize their sacrifices.”