It didn’t happen overnight, but Morgan Hill knows how to honor
its veterans.
Morgan Hill
It didn’t happen overnight, but Morgan Hill knows how to honor its veterans.
On Sunday morning, area military personnel gathered for a ceremony at the downtown Veterans Memorial Square that included school children singing patriotic songs, Mayor Steve Tate reading names of living and dead veterans, the American Legion participating, and the traditional laying of the wreaths.
“When I got back (from Vietnam) there was no Veterans Day celebration. I think they had a Memorial Day celebration or something, but even that faded out after a few years,” said Vietnam veteran and Morgan Hill native Eddie Bowers.
The Vietnam War two-year door gunner tasked with firing and maintaining manually directed machine gun aboard a helicopter returned to Morgan Hill in June of 1970.
To pay his respects Bowers began laying wreaths at various places around Morgan Hill on his own every year.
“I met him at one of his memorials. He always did that stuff by himself,” said fellow veteran Don Kinner.
Over the years Bower’s feeling that Morgan Hill needed to do more to honor its veterans grew until 1991 when he and two friends built the Veterans Memorial Square.
The memorial consists of three cobblestone pillars with the names of soldiers who died in combat, an American flag in the center, and a u-shaped display to put flowers.
“When I look at each of the stones, I think of all the broken hearts caused by these wars,” said Kinner.
Bowers began to notice more people showing up each year to the celebration after the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I think more people appreciate the veterans than before.”
A few years after returning to Morgan Hill, Bowers met Don Kinner, who as it turns out, was also a door gunner in Vietnam. The two had never met, but found out they had been in some of the same battles.
Kinner and Bowers became lifelong friends and people often confuse them as brothers.
Kinner loves hearing the children’s choir sing and being with veterans, old and new.
“You just feel the energy. The (children’s) voices give you chills,” said Kinner.
