Today kicks off a 10-day celebration honoring military veterans in Oklahoma called Celebrate Freedom Week.
This is the fourth year Woodring Wall of Honor and Veterans Park has hosted the event surrounding Veterans Day in conjunction with Visit Enid, the City of Enid, Vance Air Force Base, and several local businesses and organizations that make it possible.
“Enid is the most patriotic city in Oklahoma,” said organizer Elaine Johns, the executive director of Woodring Wall of Honor who saw a need to honor Oklahoma’s military for the suffering and sacrifices they made for American freedom.
Between Nov. 2-11, Johns has built in several activities as tribute, starting with this morning’s 13th annual Ride to Remember to several military memorials within 100 miles of Enid. The journey concludes at Oakwood Mall.
For over a year now, Woodring Wall of Honor has utilized the old Sears store at the mall to display its Oklahoma military history exhibit as the nonprofit’s board of directors strategized about the proposed Oklahoma Military Museum.
The original plan was to build the museum not far from Enid Woodring Regional Airport, which serves as the site of Woodring Wall of Honor, its ML Becker Educational Center housing a military research library, and Vietnam Memorial Wall, an 80 percent scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., that is Oklahoma’s official Vietnam War monument.
However, Johns said, the museum shell alone was estimated at $13M.
Then Oakwood Mall’s owner, who lives in Texas and is “very supportive and veteran-oriented” since his grandfather served, called Johns one day with an invitation.
“He asked us to stay on permanent,” she said. Woodring Wall of Honor’s board discussed it and ultimately decided to accept his offer, scrapping the proposed museum building plans.
Fast-forward to today. At 11 a.m. the signage for the new American Military Heritage Museum will be unveiled at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
To say Johns is excited about the museum would be an understatement. The exhibit was born out at Woodring and quickly filled the 3,500-square-foot space allotted. Only a small portion of the donated memorabilia from all eras of war was displayed; most of it remained in storage.
Johns credits docent Justin Messenger with spearheading the move to the mall’s 40,000-square-foot storefront. In the summer of 2023, he began opening boxes and crates, laying out and setting up sections of the exhibit, and tailoring each area into educational pods. Overall, Johns said, he has labored more than 1,000 volunteer hours at the mall either behind the scenes or out front among visitors, students, and veterans.
“His vision for preserving and setting up the collection, his passion about our mission to honor and remember veterans … Much of our success can be attributed to Justin’s efforts,” Johns said.
Along with the permanent museum dedication, Johns will be announcing the 1,800-piece collection being added from the Kansas Museum of Military History. Military memorabilia includes military vehicles, weapons, artillery pieces, naval vessels, and aircraft encompassing the American experience in World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the present-day war on terrorism.
Today’s event at the mall also has food, craft booths, a bake sale, a disc jockey playing classic tunes, and a free health check table.
American Military Heritage Museum’s regular hours will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. There is no admission fee; donations will be accepted to help improve the HVAC system.
“We pride ourselves in the support of our military and veterans,” Johns said.
Besides future museum expansion, Woodring Wall of Honor is expanding its support services for aging veterans at both the mall and airport sites:
- Every first and third Thursday veterans are invited for coffee and donuts at the mall site
- A Veterans Affairs rep provides benefits sessions by appointment at the mall site
- A Veterans Affairs therapist will soon provide private counseling sessions by appointment at the airport site
- Being scheduled are excursions off-site to a shooting range and fishing/hunting tours
Johns said the purpose of Woodring Wall of Honor is to be a place where families can come after the veterans are gone, a place where veterans can find camaraderie, and ultimately be a place for veterans and those after them can be remembered, learn their history, and find healing.
Celebration continues
Celebrate Freedom Week continues Tuesday with the annual tree planting ceremony on either side of the main gate road to Vance Air Force Base.
Six Shumard oak trees, which in the fall have symbolic blood red leaves, have already been planted from previous ceremonies; two more will be added Tuesday.
The idea is one tree represents active-duty personnel and will get a yellow ribbon, while the other tree represents personnel missing in action or were prisoners of war and will get a black ribbon.
“It’s another chance to honor them,” said Visit Enid director Rob Houston.
On Wednesday, Enid AM Ambucs is sponsoring a free luncheon at First Baptist Church in downtown Enid. Keynote speaker for the luncheon is Gen. Ben Robinson, who is the former secretary of Oklahoma’s Military and Veterans Affairs.
Gaslight Theatre was scheduled to host a Chautauqua-type rendering of veterans’ stories on Thursday, but since the theater is still undergoing renovations, they opted to postpone to next year, which Johns said actually works out perfectly since it will be Woodring Wall of Honor’s 25th anniversary.
Next Saturday is the annual Veterans Day Parade in downtown Enid. Sponsored by Enid Noon Ambucs, the 10 a.m. parade is anticipated to be “the most patriotic and largest veterans’ parade in Oklahoma,” Johns said. “It’s a huge event for Northwest Oklahoma.”
Since Main Street Enid has installed a speaker system downtown, visitors will be able to hear the emcees blocks away from the Square.
Culminates with Veterans Day
Celebrate Freedom Week culminates with Veterans Day.
The annual Veterans Day Ceremony, sponsored by the City of Enid at Stride Bank Center in downtown Enid, begins at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11 with keynote speaker Dwight Birdwell, who is the only Cherokee warrior from the Vietnam War-era to receive the Medal of Honor.
Current secretary of Oklahoma’s Military and Veterans Affairs John Nash will emcee the evening’s awards.
Patriotic Art Awards will be given to nine select elementary students out of 300 entries. Local leadership had a hard time choosing, Johns said, pointing to all the carefully colored school posters spread throughout the museum tables and floor.
Five Oklahomans will be honored for their military service, and Enid native Todd Lamb will be presented the Patriot of the Year award.
Formerly the Lifetime Legacy Citizen of the Year award, the Patriot of the Year award is given to someone who has made considerable contributions to the military community and the state of Oklahoma.
This particular award will come full circle this year, Johns said, because the first person to ever receive it was Lamb’s late father Norman, and Todd Lamb had just been newly-elected as Oklahoma’s lieutenant governor when he was present to see his dad awarded.
Johns herself was recently inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame for her extraordinary dedication and considerable contributions to Oklahoma’s veterans. She received the Major General Douglas O. Dollar Distinguished Public Service Award last Saturday.
She shied away from any recognition for her efforts and quickly deflected when asked about it.
“I didn’t accept on behalf of myself. I humbly accepted on behalf of Woodring Wall of Honor, the city of Enid, and veterans,” Johns said.
She said she does what she does because of men and women like her grandfather who served on the front lines in World War II.
“He came back … [and became a grandpa to] a little Scottish girl,” she said, describing how she was adopted by an American family in the late 1950s, graduated from Hennessey High School, married, had kids, and eventually became a naturalized American citizen.
Johns will continue to pursue patriotism and honor veterans for as long as she draws breath.
She’s already aiming to celebrate Vietnam veterans in March with a “big welcome home party they never had before,” to create exhibits highlighting American Indian tribal members’ military contributions, and to hopefully bring the American cover band Lt. Dan Band with “Forrest Gump” actor Gary Sinise to Enid.
“It’s not an ‘I’ thing, it’s a ‘we’ thing,” Johns said.