Bastrop County Veterans Service Office

10/14/2026

Reminder the food trailer won’t be open today. Kathy is taking a short well earned vacation.

10/14/2026

Army Maj. Charles Kettles was flying out of a river valley in Vietnam with the rest of his helicopter flight when word reached him: 8 American soldiers were still down there. They had been unable to reach the helicopters through the fire, and every Huey had already lifted off.

That morning, paratroopers of the 101st Airborne had been ambushed in the valley by a battalion-sized North Vietnamese force, and Kettles had volunteered to lead 6 Hueys in with reinforcements. All day, he and his crews flew into heavy fire, bringing in fresh troops and carrying out the wounded. Late in the day they came back for the 44 soldiers still pinned down in a dry riverbed. Now 8 of them had been left behind.

Kettles broke from the formation, took the controls from his co-pilot and dove back toward the valley alone. The enemy turned all their fire on his helicopter. As he landed, a mortar round shattered both front windshields and damaged the tail and a main rotor blade. The 8 soldiers sprinted through the fire and piled aboard, joining his crew of 4 and a soldier picked up earlier.

With 13 people aboard, the shot-up Huey was badly overloaded. Kettles coaxed it into the air in a series of hops along the riverbed, and the moment it lifted off, another mortar round slammed into the tail. The helicopter fishtailed violently. He held it, and flew all of them out.

That day, 44 American soldiers made it out of the valley. It took 49 years and a special act of Congress, but in 2016, at 86, Kettles received the Medal of Honor. “Forty-four men came home because Chuck Kettles believed that we leave no man behind,” President Obama said at the ceremony. Kettles said the credit belonged to the 74 helicopter crew members who flew with him that day. He passed away in 2019, at 89.

10/14/2026

Air Force pilot Joe Jackson was circling 9,000 feet above a Special Forces camp in Vietnam in his C-123 cargo plane, an aircraft with no guns, when the radio confirmed the last people had been flown out. Fighter jets were cleared to destroy what was left of the camp and the enemy with it. Then a voice broke in. 3 American airmen were still down there.

The camp was Kham Duc, May 12, 1968, and it was falling. Thousands of enemy troops had it surrounded. Am******on dumps were exploding, 8 aircraft had already been destroyed, and the enemy held gun positions on the runway itself. The 3 men, Maj. John Gallagher, Tech. Sgt. Mort Freedman and Staff Sgt. Jim Lundie, had been flown out earlier that day, then sent back in to help with the evacuation. Now everyone else was gone. They were hiding in a ditch beside the runway with 3 ri**es. “I never felt so lonely in all my life,” Freedman said later.

Another C-123 went in first. It landed under heavy fire, the crew couldn’t find the men, and the pilot pushed the throttles forward to get out. Just before liftoff they spotted the 3 men in the ditch, but it was too late to stop. The men watched what they thought was their last hope take off without them.

Jackson was next. He had flown fighters in World War II and Korea, and he knew the enemy gunners expected him to come in low and slow like every cargo plane before him. So he didn’t. He pointed the nose down and dove almost straight at the runway from 9,000 feet. The gunners were caught by surprise. He pulled out just above the trees and landed on a strip littered with debris, where a wrecked helicopter had cut the usable runway to 2,200 feet.

The 3 men ran for the plane and were pulled aboard. As they climbed in, a rocket skidded to a stop less than 25 feet from the nose. It didn’t explode.

Jackson taxied around it and pushed the throttles all the way forward. Within 10 seconds, mortar rounds were landing on the spot they had just left. Tracers crossed the runway ahead of them. The plane had been on the ground for less than a minute. It took off through the fire with all 3 men aboard, the last Americans out of Kham Duc. “When I looked up and saw that C-123 coming in, it was like a miracle,” Lundie said.

The photo in this post is real. It was taken from another American aircraft overhead while the rescue was happening, and it is believed to be the only photograph ever taken of a Medal of Honor action as it took place. It shows Jackson’s plane on the runway beside the wrecked helicopter. Jackson said you could just make out 2 tiny dots in it, 2 of the men running for his plane.

It was his 296th combat mission in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson presented him the Medal of Honor at the White House. Jackson passed away in 2019 at 95

10/14/2026

📢 Applications are now open for an estimated $31 million in Fund for Veterans’ Assistance grants! Application deadline is December 2nd, 2026.

Office of the Governor Greg Abbott announced the new funding opportunity, administered by the Texas Veterans Commission, for eligible nonprofit organizations and local government agencies that provide direct services to Texas veterans and their families.

👉Learn more: https://ow.ly/FQlE50ZUFqu

10/14/2026

⏳ You have less than two weeks to purchase tickets! Ticket sales close October 26th! 🤠🎭

Dust off your boots, grab your masquerade mask, and join Restoration Ranch for our Heroes & Horseshoes Wild West Masquerade Gala—an unforgettable evening supporting veterans and their families!

Here’s what’s waiting for you:
🎶 Live music and dancing with the Nathan C**t Young Band
📸 Old West photo booth for some unforgettable keepsakes
🍴 Heavy appetizers, sliders, and finger foods by John Chabot
🍹 Full bar by 602 Brewing
✨ Silent auction featuring Costa Rica and Rockport getaways, hotel stays, a bronze horse sculpture by Clare Christie, a Madam Radar NYE experience, Consuela bags, spa baskets, and more!
💎 Diamond Jewelry Raffle featuring a Kendra Scott diamond necklace and a Yellow Rose bolo tie
🎬 A special video celebrating our programs, peer coaches, community, and this year’s growth
🌟 Exciting announcements about what’s ahead in 2027!

📅 Friday, October 30, 2026 | 6–10 PM
📍 Bastrop Convention Center

Every ticket helps support connection, purpose, and community for those who have served. Come celebrate with us and help make the next chapter possible. ❤️🐴

🎟️ Don’t let October pass you by—secure your tickets today!
www.restorationranch.org/wildwestmasquerade

10/14/2026

10/13/2026

10/11/2026

Southwest Captain Bryan Knight felt calm the whole way from Oakland. Then he turned his Boeing 737 into the gate at Dallas Love Field, and it hit him. In the cargo hold, in a flag-draped casket, were his father’s remains.

The last time Bryan had seen his father was at that same airport, in January 1967. He was 5. Air Force pilot Roy Knight Jr. was leaving for the Vietnam War, and to this day Bryan remembers his mother, Patricia, sobbing as he left.

On May 19, 1967, Roy was leading 2 A-1 Skyraiders on a strike mission over northern Laos when anti-aircraft fire brought his plane down. No one saw a parachute, and a search found no trace of him. He was listed as missing, and was promoted to colonel while his family waited. In 1974, the Air Force officially declared him lost.

His son grew up to fly, first in the Air Force and then for Southwest. Teams searched his father’s crash site for years without finding him. Then in 2019, they did, and scientists identified him through his teeth.

When Bryan learned his father was coming home to Dallas, he wrote to his chief pilot and asked to fly him there himself.

On August 8, 2019, Southwest Flight 1220 landed at Love Field. A gate agent announced who was aboard, and the terminal fell silent. Travelers watched from the windows as water cannons saluted the plane, dozens of Southwest employees came out to pay their respects, and an Air Force honor guard carried the colonel to his family.

Bryan said it was an honor he never would have imagined “in a million years.” 2 days later, his father was laid to rest in Texas.