Tri-City people honor veterans for protecting nation’s freedom

Brave men and women from the Tri-City area were honored Wednesday for answering “the call when their nation needed them” and protecting the freedom of people around the world, said St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Lt. Sennet Wiggins.
The City of Morgan City and VFW Post 4222 hosted a Veterans Day ceremony Wednesday at Lawrence Park.
Wiggins was the guest speaker during the ceremony. Wiggins joined the Marine Corps in 2000 serving four years while traveling around the country and establishing lasting friendships, he said. He joined the sheriff’s office in 2007 and now serves as detectives’ supervisor.
Wiggins was stationed in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001.
“In a time of despair, in a time of chaos, our nation’s men and women stood tall,” Wiggins said.
Wiggins’ mother was born in Cuba, and her family sought refuge in the U.S. from the atrocities in Cuba, he said. Wiggins thanked veterans for making it possible for his family to live in a free country.
“Whether in combat, preparation or leadership roles, wartime or peace, each member of our nation’s military, both present and past, has contributed to the safety and well-being not only of America but for people around the world. That is what makes this nation great,” Wiggins said.
The brave soldiers who stood in the face of oppressors to defend the country deserve the American people’s respect, Wiggins said.
Simon Coupel, 81, of Pierre Part, was among the veterans present for Wednesday’s ceremony in Morgan City. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War in 1950s as a radar technician. He traveled all over the South Pacific with his job and later attended technical school in Mississippi as a result of his service, he said.
“It brings back old memories of buddies that were next to me and the fact that I got a good education out of the service,” Coupel said after the ceremony.
While serving in the Air Force, he visited Hong Kong and met a family of French people who didn’t speak English. But Coupel spoke French, too, and they had a good time visiting with one another, he said.
Russell Fontenot, 67, of Morgan City, was in the Navy from 1969 to 1970 doing one tour during the Vietnam War. Fontenot, whose granddaughter is a student at Morgan City High School, also attended the Veterans Day ceremony there, which was “an excellent program,” he said.
Fontenot is a member of VFW Post 4222 in Morgan City and previously belonged to Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 615 in Franklin.
Upon returning home to the U.S. after the war, “it wasn’t a nice thing to say you served in Vietnam,” Fontenot said.
“The country was so much against it that they were turned against the veterans,” Fontenot said.
A lot of veterans returning from Vietnam weren’t asked to join veterans’ organizations, Fontenot said.
The Vietnam Veterans of America was formed because other organizations wouldn’t accept Vietnam veterans, he said.
Eventually, things got better, and veterans’ organizations became more accepting of Vietnam veterans, he said.
Gene Falcon, 72, of Morgan City, was in the Marine Corps from 1961 to 1965 and got out of the service just when the Vietnam War was beginning, he said. He served in California, Hawaii, Japan, Camp Lejeune, Africa, South America and completed his service in Quantico, Virginia.
Falcon belongs to the St. Mary Detachment of the Marine Corps League and is proud of the work they do, particularly with “Toys for Tots.”
“I’m still a Marine after all these years,” Falcon said.