Valley hospice veterans honored during Friday ceremony

Over 150 Valley veterans residing in nursing homes will be honored with a special pinning ceremony coordinated by ROTC cadets and Quality Hospice.
 
Don Volk and Ronald "Rex" Mullenix are just two of the veterans being honored on Friday. Between the two of them, over 50 years of service in the U.S. Air Force both starting in World War II.
 
It all began for Mullinex when he was a sophomore in high school and he first heard the news about Pearl Harbor.
 
“We were out for a Sunday drive my family and I when that happened and I thought, man I'd like to get into that,” said Mullinex.
 
Two days after his high school graduation he was in basic training eventually becoming a gunner on a B-26. He flew in 40 missions bombing bridges and taking out enemy planes.
 
Volk spent his time in WWII dropping paratroopers behind enemy lines.
 
“On our squad, we had nine airplanes in the air and four of them got back, the rest were shot down,” recalled Volk.
 
Both lived incredible lives and these are just two of the stories waiting to be told from the half a million veterans left that fought in World War Two.
 
For Volk, it's ceremonies like the one held today that give our veterans from The Greatest Generation the opportunity to share these stories with the next.
 
“I think they're great and they learn something, how to take orders how to give orders and things like that and it always helps build up yourself,” said Volk.
 
ROTC cadets and Quality Hospice will continue to honor veterans from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam by traveling to different nursing homes across the Valley through next week.