Clifton Forge Moose Lodge 1683 prepared free dinners for veterans in the Alleghany Highlands the day after Veterans Day from 5:00 p.m. till 7:00 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 12.
Moose President Paula Crance remarked, “Because of many cases of what is believed to be the flu in our area, we decided it would be safer to have carryout dinners.”
A few decided to sit at the assembled tables, but most of the veterans picked up their dinners for dining at home.
Veteran Glenn Minnix and his wife, Carol Richmond Minnix of Ogle Creek, west of Covington, dined together in the otherwise empty room except for the crew of Moose volunteers who were busy serving carryout dinners.
Glenn, who is from Nanjemoy, MD., was drafted in1966, and he served in the U.S. Army in South Korea along the DMZ during the time that North Korea captured the Pueblo.
“When the North Koreans took the Pueblo, that extended my stay in Korea by 30 days,” Glenn recalled.
A week before the Tet Offensive began in the Vietnam War, North Koreans attacked the U.S.S. Pueblo, the Navy’s intelligence-gathering ship that was manned with a crew of 83, one of whom was killed during the attack on Jan. 23, 1968.
The U.S.S. Pueblo remains a commissioned Navy ship, the only one still being held captive that is officially on the Navy’s roster.
In 2013, North Korea moored the ship at the Pyongyang Canal in Pyongyang as part of the new Victorious War Museum.
After serving in the U.S. Army, Glenn married Carol Richmond, from Ogle Creek. When Carol was five, she had moved with Mildred Richmond, her mother, to Maryland. Mildred is Arden Smith’s half-sister.
Glenn and Carol were married in Elkton, Maryland in 1973, and in 2014, the couple moved to Ogle Creek to build a home on land Mildred provided.
As it turned out, Glenn and Carol along with their friends had the entire dining area to themselves due to the concern that a flu outbreak may be underway.
Based on what area school officials believe to be a probable flu outbreak based on recent student absences from the various schools in Alleghany Highlands Public Schools school officials closed two schools for two days recently.
The turnout for the free dinners was more than in past years and more than the Moose officials had anticipated.
Just prior to posing for photographs, Crance recruited a volunteer to go to a nearby store and purchase more cakes that were needed to keep from exhausting their supply.
