To mark what would have been the Tenth Annual Salute to Idaho Veterans this November, we revisit the inaugural event with the article below and voicemail above. This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of Pocatello Magazine.

 

The caller’s voice on the message began steadily enough. “Good morning. I’m a shot up Marine from World War II... my difficulty was with my injuries… I thought I had bad injuries…” At this point, the caller paused and his voice wavered.

 

The voicemail was left the Saturday morning after Farm Bureau’s First Annual Salute to Idaho Veterans event held on November 10, 2011. The caller, a Word War II veteran named John Dudenake, had called to reach Farm Bureau Insurance employee James Hughes. James was the company’s Director of Training and Development and the driving force behind the event.

 

James was still fairly new to Farm Bureau when he stopped by my desk one day to run an idea past me. “When I look around our building,” he said, “and I see the flag pole in front of the building and the eagle statue in the atrium, it makes me think Farm Bureau would be the perfect place to host a Veterans Day event. It’s like this building was made for it.” I agreed. Soon after our conversation, James presented his idea to the CEO of Farm Bureau Insurance and the President of the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation. They gave their approval and James was off.

 

The first thing James did was find a contact in the local military community who could help Farm Bureau put together an event that would be meaningful to veterans. James was put in touch with the commander of the Pocatello Veterans Honor Guard, Richard Hollingsworth, and soon after Commander Hollingsworth came to Farm Bureau to meet with James and me.

 

James outlined his idea for the event in detail. Hollingsworth listened patiently and then thanked us, saying it was kind of Farm Bureau to think of putting on the event. “But,” he said, peering at us from over the top of his glasses, “I have to ask you gentlemen… what are your intentions?” Hollingsworth was understandably concerned the company might be planning the event for self-serving, public relations purposes. After Richard expressed his concerns, James, without a word, reached across the table and handed Hollingsworth a folder; he opened it.

 

Inside the folder was a photo of a highly decorated Army Lieutenant General, James’ brother, Patrick Hughes. James recounted his brother’s military career to Hollingsworth, and soon the two of them were engaged in an animated conversation of acronyms, abbreviations, and ranks that I had no hope of following. The motivation for the event became clear to Hollingsworth: James loved his brother, veterans, and his country.

 

Hollingsworth agreed to help us plan the Salute. He even agreed to be our keynote speaker. When James would later introduce Hollingsworth at the event, it was as “my friend.”

 

Thanks to James’ planning and the assistance of numerous individuals and groups including Commander Hollingsworth, the Pocatello Veterans Honor Guard, the Pocatello Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee, and Farm Bureau’s Salute to Idaho Veterans planning committee, the event was a success.

 

This year will mark the Fifth Annual Salute to Idaho Veterans. But on that Monday morning after the first event in 2011, James arrived at work and began his day by listening to his voicemail from Dudenake.

 

The Marine’s message continued after a lengthy pause. “At your event I met… another young man that was… that had his legs shot off… a Marine. I talked to him and I talked to his mother. And it broke me down so badly that I had to excuse myself. It touched me so hard.” The caller paused again, cleared his throat, and went on. “I was in a battle… I saw mangled bodies a lot… and it just reminded me of 60 years ago.” Another pause, then, “I got home all right. I want to thank you and your committee for putting together something that was unbelievably well planned. What a wonderful job you did. Only people like you can do things like that. And your crew of course. You don’t have to return my call, but I’ve been dwelling on it all night. Have a good morning and give thanks to all of your committee.”

 

The message ended with Dudenake humming in the background. James cried when he heard the message.

 

Unfortunately, both James and Dudenake have passed away since that first Salute to Idaho Veterans event. But James’ original vision for the event lives on. The Salute Committee is still working with representatives from the local military community to plan the event. We hope the event is something that shows how much we appreciate the sacrifices Veterans have made to protect our liberties. And we hope the event will be, as James described it in his opening remarks at the first Salute, something that will “serve as a tangible reminder to our communities that the people of Idaho Farm Bureau value our allegiance to our country, as one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

 

Thank you, Veterans, for your service to our country. We hope to see you at this year’s Fifth Annual Salute to Idaho Veterans on November 6th.

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