The Highground Veterans Memorial Park near Neillsville is planning a week-long event starting July 18 called “Operation Persian Gulf Welcome Home,” to honor those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The event begins with a tribute to those who died overseas, and in the Sept. 11 attacks, and wraps up with a candlelight ceremony July 25. The keynote speaker scheduled for that night is Brian Jopek, an Iraq War veteran whose son Ryan was killed in action.
“He’d turned 20 on June 1 of 2006,” Jopek remembered. “At the time of the incident, his unit was only going to be in the country for another couple of weeks. They came home, I think it was two days after he was buried, and I was there at Volk Field to greet them. I just felt I had to be there.”
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Jopek said he was called a baby killer while in uniform in downtown Madison shortly after his son’s death. He says there is a scene in the movie “The Hurt Locker” which illustrates the problems veterans face when they return home:
“One minute you’re in Iraq, you’re getting shot at, and the next minute you’re in the cereal aisle, looking at a box of cereal for your kids,” he said. “I can’t help but think that there have been so many that have had to deal with that, again, not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Vietnam.”
Jopek said American troops deserve respect and support, even from those who oppose the wars they fight.
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