REDMOND, Wash. — Veterans Day looks a bit different this year with the pandemic, forcing the cancellation of annual celebrations and community gatherings.
One of the more significant cancellations is the annual Honor Flight that flies select veterans to Washington, D.C. for a special honor.
Ninety-three-year-old veteran Ronald Jenkins of Redmond was certainly disappointed his Honor Flight was put on hold, but friends and family decided to celebrate his service with style on Wednesday.
Jenkins was drafted on his 18th birthday and served with the 11th Airborne Division in Japan. By the time he landed, the war was over and his duties shifted to helping with Japanese recovery efforts.
"I couldn't wait to get in," Jenkins said about being drafted.
He was never involved in a welcome home parade and has seen little acknowledgment beyond his participation and interview in the Veterans History Program in the Library of Congress.
The 62-page transcript is now a part of a special booklet family friend Barb Brindle put together for Jenkins and it also features over a hundred letters from kids in the Lake Washington School District.
Brindle has been orchestrating the socially-distanced get together for weeks and hoped the weather would cooperate, and sure enough it did on Wednesday.
Jenkins was given the booklet at a small gathering at a park in Redmond. He also finally got his personal parade as firefighters and police officers lined the streets in their vehicles.
"I was so surprised when she arranged all this," said Jenkins. "It's nice to be remembered, it's nice to be a veteran."
Brindle said it's all about paying it forward.
"Born and bred military. I married military, who just retired after 35 years, and so it's in my blood," she said, "you know, pay it forward, he is a kind and gentle soul."