Caddo has been designated a Purple Heart Town, and a plaque was presented by the Military Order of the Purple Heart during last week’s meeting of the Caddo Town Council.
The town was nominated by ambassador Steve Byrd for its dedication and support honoring America’s combat wounded veterans.
Byrd said the organization supports combat wounded veterans.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful country and I was asked to do that,” Byrd said. “I never served in the military and whenever I’m around a big room full of veterans, I tell people because of all of them old men and women across the ocean kicked everybody’s tail, so I didn’t have to.”
He said that without the American soldier, the Declaration of Independence is just a piece of paper.
“All of the great monuments we have in Washington D.C. are nothing without the American soldier, especially the combat wounded men and women who served,” Byrd said. “I always try to describe that I never served because I can’t imagine being in a jungle in southeast Asia or desert in some far away country not getting a hot shower, not drinking a cold glass of water and knowing that two or three of my buddies are liable to die before we get home.”
According to Byrd, the organization is wanting to make every city in southeastern Oklahoma a Purple Heart City, and they are getting close to that.
“My work carries me around those places, so tonight, you see the town’s signs coming in and it’s just wonderful to see that Caddo is a Purple Heart City and so we want to give this plaque to the town as our appreciation and just recognition when people walk in to know that you guys support the combat wounded men and women,” Byrd said.
Byrd said the blood of wounded veterans cannot go unspilled.
“We cannot ever stop teaching the young kids what it means,” Byrd said. “I had a niece one time that asked me some Friday afternoon, ‘What are you putting your flag up for,’ and so I had to give her a long speech on why. I said, ‘One of these days, you might not be able to. It might be illegal for you to raise our American flag.”’ He said there are other countries that have fallen into tyranny.
“We’re so, so lucky here in America to be able to sit as free men and women gathered right here without any permission from our government,” Byrd said. “We come and go as we please and this just shows that you guys want to protect that.”
