Johnson crowned WKU homecoming queen There is little more Jeanne Johnson could ask for from her college career.
The senior is six months away from graduation, is serving as president of the Student Government Association, is active in Kappa Delta sorority and now can add homecoming queen to her collegiate resume.
On Saturday, Johnson, the daughter of Jim and Amy Johnson of Marion, was crowned homecoming queen at Western Kentucky University. She was nominated to represent Kappa Delta sorority, Farmhouse fraternity, and Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.
After a very busy week, Johnson was crowned from a field of 17 candidates representing various organizations across campus: from Greeks to Christian organizations to major-specific clubs.
“Winning homecoming queen was the icing on the cake,” Johnson said. “It was a testament to all of the hard work I've put into Western, not to mention an honor for being chosen to represent such an amazing institution.”
Perhaps the only sour note Saturday was the Hilltoppers’ 21-17 loss to Troy.
By virtue of her position as president of the student governing body, Johnson is a voting member of the Board of Regents at Western. Despite the extra-curricular activities that have kept her busy, she is majoring in financial planning and economics.
Armory to host return to duty, Freedom Salute Soldiers with Marion’s National Guard unit will return to military duty this weekend, after a three-month break following their August return from a year deployment in Iraq. They will return to the Carson Davidson Kentucky Army National Guard Armory for their monthly drills and an official thank you presentation from the Department of Defense.
Forty-five guardsmen and families associated with B Company, 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor, 38th Infantry Division will be recognized Sunday in a Freedom Salute Honors Ceremony at the armory. A countrywide effort by the National Guard to honor its deployed soldiers, the local Freedom Salute program begins at 1 p.m., with attendance from the public encouraged.
All of the soldiers will receive gifts from the military during the ceremony, one of their last acts as part of the tank unit known as Bravo Company. The Kentucky Army National Guard is in the midst of a statewide restructuring that will eliminate all tank units within the Commonwealth, according to Sgt. Sarah Holler, who works out of the Marion armory. The local unit is now a detachment of A Company, 206th Engineer Battalion in Lietchfield, Ky.
“There are new people in here everyday,” Holler said Tuesday.
The transformation will give B Company soldiers the option of retraining for a job with an engineering unit or taking their current skills to another armory. Since no more tank units will be stationed in Kentucky, that means guardsmen who opt to forgo retraining could be forced to find an out-of-state unit.
For some, the transformation is welcomed, Holler said. The engineering background will allow for a more practical translation into the civilian job market than experience with a combat-oriented tanker unit, she explained.
“Like me. My resume is filled with scary stuff,” said Holler, much of whose time in the Guard has been focused on law enforcement.
Holler, who handles much of the paperwork involved with the reorganization at the local level, said soldiers like Jonathan McMackin are excited about the change, eager to learn new skills that could help in future employment opportunities.
Some of B Company’s soldier have already transferred out, while many new faces have already been reassigned to the Marion armory.
“We’re shuffling people around,” said Holler, who plans her exit from the National Guard at the end of this year. “It’s real difficult.”
The last time a unit stationed at the Marion armory was reorganized was in June 1995, when Bravo Company was formed. Like B Company, the new detachment will be an all-male unit.
But Sunday will be for Bravo and their loved ones. A lengthy ceremony will bring together the soldiers, families, state military commanders and local civilian dignitaries like Rep. Mike Cherry and Judge-Executive Fred Brown. The event will be emceed by 1st Lt. P. Barkley Hughes, a Marion native and former member of B Company.
One soldier deployed with Marion unit who will not be in attendance is Staff Sgt. Thomas Clemons, who died in December of a heart attack while in Iraq. Clemons, of Leitchfield, was the only soldier associated with the unit to die while in Iraq. His family, if in attendance Sunday, will receive the honors presented to the other 45 soldiers.
Holler said other soldiers unable to attend like Spec. Chase Matthews, who is recovering from surgeries to an injured arm and amputated legs suffered in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, will also have their names called for an opportunity to be recognized. Matthews, a Dycusburg resident, is at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.