A brick pathway surrounds the Clark Lake Community Center. You can show your support of this Clark Lake icon and at the same time mark your family’s name or memorialize a loved one with a personalized brick.
The Brick Pathway
Ring of Honor
The Clark Lake Community Center has created a Ring of Honor around the U.S. Flag for active duty service members and veterans who are friends or family of current and past Clark Lake residents.
The Ring of Honor surrounds the Community Center Flagpole
Bricks are available in 4” x 8” for $100, 8” x 8’ for $200, or an 8” x 8” brick with a family, service or business logo for $225. In the photo below, both sizes are represented.
You may print and use one of the order forms below, send the completed form, along with your check to: Clark Lake Spirit Foundation, PO Box 224 Clark Lake, MI 49234.
Ring of Honor Brick Order Form
The following is from an article on this website in 2019 regarding Veterans Day.
At the end of World War II, our returning fighters were lauded as hero’s. For those returning from Vietnam, it wasn’t that way. Times have changed and so has public attitude. On November 11th, today’s veterans will hear “thank you for your service.”
In the 1960s and 1970s, why didn’t those who fought in Vietnam receive a proper reception upon returning home? As President Lyndon Johnson escalated the Vietnam war, the more divided America became. When he took office in November 1963, there were 16,000 American troops in Vietnam. By 1968 there were 500,000. Some were drafted, others enlisted. Many returned in body bags–58,220 died in that conflict. For the living, coming home was not good. Some were literally spit upon or otherwise derided. As they returned from overseas, some men changed out of their uniforms to avoid being assaulted in airports or other public places by anti-war activists.
One page in history puts into perspective of how this sad state of affairs developed. Hollywood’s Jane Fonda, now 80 years old used her celebrity to help lead a crusade against America’s military and Vietnam involvement. She traveled to Hanoi in 1972 and met with the enemy as our soldiers and airmen were being killed or maimed by them. This photo shows her sitting at the gun site of a North Vietnamese artillery piece. For this act, she earned the moniker, Hanoi Jane. Years later, she said she was wrong to do that. In some circles her apology has been accepted, and she is now applauded as a climate change warrior. In other circles, there is no forgiveness, especially among those who slogged through rice paddies, met the enemy face to face and may not have come back whole.
In betraying our fighters, she was not alone. The rage against the war and its soldiers ranged from relatively peaceful demonstrations to violent destruction of property or life threatening attacks.
In our country, elected officials start, prosecute and end wars. The military’s task is to follow their orders. Anti-war radicals directed their animus not only at the government, but at those men and women who put their life on the line. Today there is no draft. But during Vietnam, you were required by federal law to enter the military, or volunteer to avoid being drafted. The alternative was to go to prison or escape to Canada. Some anti-war groups believed that soldiers were criminals, and were duty-bound to leave the country.
Today, that has changed.
A Clark Lake Vietnam war veteran, Walt Reed, comments that soldiers don’t start wars. “Warriors are your sons and daughters who fight because they love our country—because it is their duty. To blame warriors for the wars they fight is to blame your sons and daughters for that war. Veterans day is the perfect opportunity to thank our sons and daughters for putting their life on the line for our country. It is always appreciated when you see a veteran and say, “Thank you for your service.”
Clark Lake has several veterans living among us. Two years ago, this website produced a video in which some of them told their stories. It has become one of the most watched on the site. Included are a World War II veteran who passed away a year ago, three Vietnam veterans, an officer who served in Korea, and two others.
