CENTERVILLE —
Dear Editor,
This past week the state of Iowa and our own community got to see Centerville at it's best. We felt and shared the pain and expressed our appreciation for one of our own, Travis Riddick, the son of John and Barb Riddick, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
If you didn't get a big lump in your throat or a tear in your eye driving down 18th Street or by the high school and seeing over a hundred high school students and the Indian Hills baseball team and literally hundreds of Centerville residents, young and old, putting up over 2,200 American flags for a young man from the "CHS class of 1990" who left our community to serve his country over 20 years ago, you're a tough individual.
A sincere thanks is due to the entire Iowegian staff for the beautiful and special coverage. Bob Beck would have been proud. And to Centerville City Councilman Edwin Brand of KMGO, KEDB and KCOG radio for the non stop reporting and updating. And when the radio played Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" not once but twice, the tears flowed.
And we all should thank Larry "The Flagman" Eckhardt from Little York, Ill., who showed his love for the USA in a unique way and helped to bring this community together when it needed it the most.
The four- mile long processional starting at the Ottumwa Airport led by our own police department to the good citizens of Ottumwa, Blakesburg, Albia, Moravia and all the folks on the farm roads and driveways in between and of course the Centerville community who waited and stood in the wet snow to pay their respects. And to all the area fire and police departments, the utility companies displaying huge American flags, it was an experience that we will never forget.
God bless the Riddick family, our men and women in the military and our community. You did yourself proud for one of our own.
Kris Koestner
Centerville
Editorials
January 31, 2012
Community patriotism, pride for Centerville Marine
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