GATESVILLE APPRECIATES THE MILITARY

Part Owner of Texas

Gatesville is near Fort Hood, one of the largest military installations in the world and the military presence is always in the city.

“Everywhere we go, every event we attend is accompanied by the sounds and sights of freedom,” says Gatesville resident Diana Fincher. “In our parking lots we park beside Humvees and big military equipment. We follow their caravans up and down our highways.

At our barbeques and backyard picnics, on our golf courses overhead we hear the Blackhawks, the Chinooks. We are so blessed to have that daily reminder of how we are able to be with our families because of their sacrifices.”

Diana is involved with organizing social gatherings for reservists and National Guard troops who go for a year of training at North Fort Hood just down the road from Gatesville. Many have done multiple tours of duty and have been recalled.

“These are store owners, mechanics, doctors, lawyers, nurses who have given up their civilian careers and have been called back into military service. I’ve seen young mothers who left newborn babies. They’re from all over the country.”

In 2012 Diana and a group of Gatesville residents approached the chaplain at North Fort Hood and asked what the community could do to make the soldiers feel welcome.

“He suggested a pot luck supper and maybe just meeting with some of the units. That didn’t sound good enough. We wanted to do something really special for the troops. We prepared a Mother’s Day barbeque for them.

Since then we have gone from a small force of about 40 volunteers and a nice barbeque with a light concert of Texas music, some door prizes and so forth to now when we have over 200 volunteers from our community who want to be a part of recognizing the military.

Wherever I go, people want to know when is the next event and how can they help. We call our celebration the Heart of Texas Salute To Warrior Citizens.”

Diana, who taught music in public school for 28 years, has every right to be grateful for the military. Her dad served in the Pacific during World War Two. He met his wife while stationed at Fort Hood.

“Our annual appreciation event takes place on a Sunday afternoon in June.

It’s like a Texas Country Fair. We bring out all the iconic Texas things like Frito pie, nachos, sausage wrap, funnel cakes and things that we enjoy in our activities around the state.

We bring out live Texas Longhorns, we have horseback rides, classic cars, country music, dollars and dollars worth of door prizes and we have an archery range. The reward that we get is what we see happening during the event.

Some of them enter with a non-caring attitude and say what is this and why are we here. They have stern military faces and everything is yes, ma’am, no sir. As they leave they’re high-fiving us, they’re thanking us, they’re hugging us. They’ve had a couple of hours being loved on and acknowledged.”