Veterans honored at RVHS girls basketball game
River View High School senior Cassidy Turnbull is pictured presenting one of the small tokens of appreciation she passed out to veterans who took part in a special ceremony for them prior to the start of a basketball game on Feb. 1 at the school. Josie Sellers | Beacon
Pictured are veterans Jerry Green, Darryl Jensen and Tom Dile who participated in a special ceremony honoring veterans that was held at River View High School. Josie Sellers | Beacon
WARSAW – When Darryl Jensen came home from Vietnam he never would have worn a shirt that made it easy to tell he was veteran.
“There was a lot of hatred then,” he said. “I didn’t admit I was a veteran for a long time. I never wore a hat or a shirt like this one saying I was a veteran, but now I’m proud of the fact that I served.”
Jensen and close to 20 other veterans were honored prior to the start of the River View High School varsity girls’ basketball game on Feb. 1.
“This is great and really appreciated,” he said.
Jensen graduated from River View High School in 1967 and served in the U.S. Army. He spent some time prior to the start of the ceremony honoring veterans chatting with fellow Vietnam Veteran Tom Smailes. He graduated from Coshocton High School and served in the U.S. Navy.
“We mentor a girl up here and come up for basketball games,” Smailes said. “They told us about this night and I thought it was great. This is a good school.”
Each veteran was introduced before the crowd and presented with a small gift that was handed out by RVHS senior Cassidy Turnbull.
The presentation was part of her senior project, which also has included sending care packages to troops overseas and creating a bulletin board at the school honoring veterans.
“I’ve enjoyed putting the care packages together and being able to give something to veterans,” she said.
Turnbull’s mentor for her senior project is Cathy Ames, who was part of the panel that last year’s seniors had to present their projects to.
“I’m amazed at what some of these kids do,” Ames said. “They are not something they come up with overnight. They are time consuming projects. They have to think ahead and are building life skills that will stay with them.”
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