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By Lance Gaither

lance.gaither@bluegrassnewsmedia.com

Heritage Hospice and more than 40 other sponsors hosted the 13th Veterans Appreciation fish fry and BBQ on Friday at the National Guard Armory to celebrate Veterans Day and to say thank you to all those who have served in the armed forces.

“Everybody is happy to be back and we are glad to be back,” said Heritage Hospice Veterans Committee Co-chair and Air Force veteran Jack Hendricks. “I think we will get 1,000 veterans this year. We have a lot of volunteers. We couldn’t do it without them. We have several from Danville Christian Academy, they come out every year and they are great.”

The Covid-19 pandemic put the annual lunch on a hiatus.

“We are very happy after three years to see people still coming out and loving the event,” Heritage Hospice Veterans Committee Chair Sharon Martin. “We have plenty of volunteers from all walks of life. Old, young, we have people out here who have never been to this before.”

Veterans from all branches of the armed forces were in attendance at the lunch.

“I love being able to see in our small town USA that they still love veterans,” said Air Force veteran James Hunn. “I’m a little country boy from Danville and was blessed to go all over the world. To still get this appreciation back home is amazing.”

One Army veteran in attendance, Robin Roberts, competed in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5.     

I did really good, I finished, ever since I was little I wanted to do it. It was a bucket list item for me,” Roberts said. “I was so excited when I saw the big banner announcing the lunch was back. I couldn’t believe it.”