Patti Weiland Robohn, Phil Rider, and John Hirsch awarded Quilts of Valor

POMEROY–Pomeroy School District held an assembly in honor of Veteran's Day in the Pomeroy Jr/Sr. High School gym on November 7. The program included presentations of Quilts of Valor, songs by the Transitional Kindergarten through Third Grade children as well as the High School Rock Band and the Rockapella Band, and a slide show of the local veterans. Receiving Quilts of Valor were Patti Weiland Robohn, Phil Rider, and John Hirsch. Alice Gwinn presented the quilts and gave the following history of the recipients' service:

"Patti is a graduate of Pomeroy High School and she served her country from September of 1976 to September of 1998. She served as an E-8 Senior Chief Mess Management Specialist, was in the Recruit Training Command in Orlando, Fla., and was at the US Naval Station, Midway Island. She was with the Rescue Unit, Homeport (Submarine Rescue Unit) on North Island, San Diego, Calif. From there she went to the Naval Communication Unit in Washington, D.C. That led her to the Navy Recruiting Station in Great Falls, Mont. From there she was on the USS L.Y. Spear, a submarine tender in Norfolk, Va., and was deployed to the Persian Gulf at the end of the first Gulf War. From there she went to Service School Command in Great Lakes, Ill., then on to the USS Ashland in Little Creek, Va., and again deployed to the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf from September 1997-February 1998. She retired on Sept. 30, 1998, after 22 years. She since then was involved with the Transportation Security Administration for 19.5 years at SeaTac Airport, was a transportation security officer for eight and a half years, and a behavior detection officer for 11 years.

Phil Rider was off to college and playing football when he was drafted into the Army in January, 1971, until December, 1972. He went to basic training at Ft. Ord, then went to Ft. Benning, Ga., NCO Academy, back to Ft. Ord as a drill instructor, before going to the Korea DMZ and joining the Military Police. He was in charge of the waling patrol in the city of Tong Du Chon at Camp Casey. There he played fast-pitch softball and combat football-tackle football but with no pads. He worked for the Army Corp. and volunteered to go to Iraq where he was a project manager of building hospitals, health centers, water purification systems and schools in the city of Fallujah during 2005. Phil settled in Pomeroy and has been a volunteer coach for 20 plus years with the Pomeroy High School girls' fastpitch softball teams.

John Hirsch graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and was commissioned into the US Army serving from 1980-1984 in the Field Artillery and Aviation. As an Artillery officer he served at Ft. Sill, Okla., as a Cannon Battery Officer and at Ft. Bragg, N.C., as a FIST team leader. In September, 1981, he was accepted to the US Army Rotary Wing flight school in Ft. Rucker, Ala. As a UH-1H pilot, he served at Ft. Lewis, Wash., in the 9th CSAB as a flight platoon leader and Company XO and after that served with the 214th Attack Helicopter BN in Ft. Lewis as the Maintenance officer until he separated from the service in October, 1984."

The PHS a Capella group "Rockapella", consisting of Nevada Zaval, Noah Shaver, Santiago Lyden, Jett Slusser, and Emma Thompson, performed The Star Spangled Banner to open the program, and the PHS rock band-Navada Zaval, Noah Shaver, Jett Slusser, Cesar Morfin, Elena Morfin-Avila, Emma Thompson, Santiago Lyden, Jeremiah Lemont, and Jacob Reisinger-performed Bad Moon Rising to close it. The elementary performances included "You're a Grand Old Flag" by the Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten students, "My Country Tis of Thee" by the 1st Grade, This "Land is Your Land" by the 2nd Grade, and "The Cassion Song" by the 3rd Grade. All the student musical performances were directed by PHS band teacher Josh Murray. Marcus Pederson played Taps at the end of the slideshow.