CENTERVILLE — The City of Centerville honored three Veterans on Tuesday in a Veterans Day celebration at Benham’s Grove Event Center.
Due to the accumulation of snow, the event was moved from Stubbs Park.
Many members in the crowd are local Veterans and understand the hard transition from duty to civilian life.
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Tim Pennartz served 21 years in the United States Army.
“Living now in the civilian world outside the military, you understand shopping at Kroger is not as serious as putting guns into place and tactical positions,” said Pennartz.
Pennartz was looking for an adventure at 19, and became a paratrooper, which led to jumping out of planes thousands of feet in the air.
“30 years later, my knees don’t agree. But I had a good time. In retrospect, I don’t regret anything; I wouldn’t change a thing,” said Pennartz.
Fred Rojas said he did not serve for the recognition.
“We don’t like the notoriety. We don’t like the attention. We rather just continue because when we were in the military, we just went and did our jobs,” said Rojas.
Rojas served 26 years in the United States Air Force and spends his retirement helping fellow service men and women.
“They’ll help you change a tire, remodel your house, whatever it may be. But when it comes to helping themselves, it’s hard for them. So I made it my passion as a veteran advocate to help veterans take that first step,” said Rojas.
The three men received a standing ovation as they were honored.
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