Mountain View holds Veterans Freedom Festival

Virginia Giorgis, Bridger Valley Pioneer
Posted 9/1/17

Vets honored at Valley event

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Mountain View holds Veterans Freedom Festival

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MOUNTAIN VIEW — Blue skies, sunshine and a festive attitude in the air served as the backdrop for the 4th annual Veterans Freedom Festival, a day to celebrate veterans and the pride of being American.

Veterans of all ages were in vogue, standing a little taller as they enjoyed the appreciation of the crowd who attended the event last Saturday at Mountain View Town Park.

WWII Navajo Code Talker Samuel T. Holiday was this year’s special guest. In addition, Debbie Fraughton, the daughter of a Vietnam era MIA soldier who was missing for 36 years, told her father’s story.

Vintage cars and military vehicles spread across the park area near the pavilion.

The event started with a breakfast of eggs and biscuits and gravy, dished up by the Town of Mountain View officials. Part way through the time alotted for breakfast, Mayor Scott Dellinger estimated the town would serve around 600 breakfasts. The pavilion was loud and noisy with people talking and laughing, enjoying the morning.

The crowd gathered at the flagpole for the opening ceremony at 10 a.m. Veterans, wearing their jackets and caps and others in civvies, mingled with the crowd. Holiday received a standing ovation as he was escorted to the area near the flagpole.

Boy Scout Troop 34, Lyman, marched in, unfolded the flag and hoisted it up the pole. Seven veterans with rifles were lined up. Ready, aim, fire — a three shot volley punctuated the still air. The crowd recited the “Pledge of Allegiance” and sang “The Star Spangled Banner” accompanied by LHS music teacher Chuck Braumbaugh playing a trumpet.

Dave Baer, VFW 7798 chaplain, spoke of remembering “those who served and came home ... and those who did not come home and had their blood spilled on foreign lands so our own soils would remain pure.”

Fraughton told of the agony over the lack of information her family received about her father, Marvin Lee Foster, after he went missing in action in 1969. Just 14 years old at the time, Fraughton said the devastating news came just after she had received a postcard from her father who had been in Hawaii. 

Foster went missing in 1969 with five other men on a U21A aircraft lost radio contact due to monsoon weather. Fraughton and her mother, Erna Foster searched for what seemed forever, traipsing across the nation in the 1970s trying to find information about her father. They even went to Laos and the Paris Peace Talks.

At the same time, Fraughton had two brothers, one 18 years old and the other 20, both serving in the military.

Then, in 2005, Fraughton received notice that the remains of her father and some of the others in the plane had been discovered — two-and-a-half years after the death of her mother as well as the death of one of her brothers. Fraughton’s father and the other men aboard the plane died when their plane slammed into the wall of a mountain during the storm.

The remains of all the men were in one box, Fraughton said. DNA testing identified the remains of her father, Lt. Col. Marvin Lee Foster — Foster had received a promotion in rank after being declared missing in action.

Foster’s remains were brought back to Evanston, and upon Fraughton’s request, the military allowed her mother’s remains and Foster’s remains to be buried in one casket. Lt. Col. Foster had returned home and rejoined his family.

Following Fraughton’s remarks, the roar of motorcycles filled the air as the Legion Riders left on their poker run.

Holiday, from Monument Valley, Utah, spoke at 1 p.m. In his 90s, Holiday is one of the few remaining Navajo code talkers from WWII. The Navajo code was instrumental in the ultimate defeat of the Japanese by the Allied Armies because the Japanese couldn’t break the code.

Holiday was arrested twice during WWII, having been mistook for a Japanese soldier while on duty for the United States. Fortunately for Holiday, he was recognized by commanding officers and was released from custody. He received two Purple Hearts during his service.

Holiday didn’t know of the white man until he was 12 years old. He was scared of the white man and he and his sister would hide when the government agents came to take the Navajo children and put them in a boarding school. One day while herding sheep, Holiday hurt his knee and was taken to a clinic for medical care. While recovering at the hospital, Holiday “was caught” and later was placed in a boarding school where he could learn English. Speaking Navajo was forbidden at the time.

When he was 17 years old, a Marine recruiter visited the school and Holiday signed up.

After five years in the boarding school, Holiday went to Provo, Utah, to a vocational school. When he was 18, he got his letter to report for duty and entered the walls of Camp Pendleton in San Diego. And the rest is history. He was assigned to the 4th Marine Division, 25th regiment, H and 5 Company and served from 1943–45.

Balloons filled the blue sky as they were released during the closing ceremony at 5 p.m.