Military veterans honored at Chiles High Tuesday night

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Some of Tallahassee’s finest were honored during Military Appreciation Night at Chiles High School on Tuesday night.

“The community seems to love its veterans,” said Gordon Lightfoot, who is a Vietnam War combat veteran.

Lightfoot threw out the first pitch of the game before the Timberwolves took on Columbia. All of the veterans were given recognition medals to wear around their necks. The national anthem was sung. Organizers said roughly 40 veterans attended.

“Our veterans have done so much for our country,” said Timberwolves Baseball Boosters Board Member Kristen Knapp, whose son also pitches for the team. “It’s important that our young adults understand the sacrifices that are made.”

It is a lesson that is not lost on members of the Lincoln Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, which presented the colors during the ceremony.

“It makes me happy to know that our veterans are now being recognized after so many years not being recognized,” said Cadet Seaman Daylen Trevick.

The evening had a special emphasis on Vietnam-era veterans who were long ago robbed of a hero’s homecoming.

“We didn’t get a welcome home,” Lightfoot told WCTV reporter Katie Kaplan. “Matter of fact, I buried myself in my young family, the books, and got into school and didn’t look back.”

Fifty years after Lightfoot’s 13-month tour, it proved to be a perfect night for a perfect pitch from a Marine.

CHS holds the event every year. The school also collected canned goods and toiletries for Tallahassee Veterans Village, which assists displaced veterans in need.

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