Rotary honors veterans

COEUR d’ALENE — When he looked out at the audience members who were listening attentively to his life story, Maj. James Connell said he felt he was representing millions of veterans throughout American history, from the Revolutionary War to the present.

“They can’t be here, but I can,” he said. “It was an honor.”

Connell, who served in the Air Force from 1949 to 1970, was one of four local veterans honored by the Coeur d’Alene Rotary Club during its Veterans Day ceremony Friday. Janet and Les Atchley shared the veterans’ stories with a room full of Rotarians and community members.

Larry Voorhees, 93, first tried to join the Navy when he was 16 years old. He was turned away for being too young. At age 17, as soon as the Navy would allow, he enlisted.

During World War II, Voorhees served as a boatswain’s mate on the USS Lassen, which made ammunition deliveries to Navy vessels. After developing techniques for transferring ammunition to warships while underway at sea, the crew of the Lassen helped to speed up the Allied advance in the Pacific.

Voorhees recalled a time when 150-mph winds threatened to capsize the Lassen, causing life rafts and machinery to slide overboard and ammunition to break loose. During the storm, a 500-pound bomb started to sizzle, smoking and turning red, though it didn’t explode.

Many decades later, Voorhees said it was still important to share stories and experiences from war.

“I think people need to know what happened,” he said. “It could happen again.”

Despite the dangers he faced, Voorhees said he had no regrets.

“I would do it again, definitely,” he said.

Patt Richesin, president of the Kootenai Care Network, was one of two women veterans honored during the program.

Growing up, Richesin drew inspiration from her father, who served in World War II — as did his six brothers. All seven siblings made it home safely.

Like her father, who flew 25 B-17 missions over Germany, Richesin enlisted in the Air Force.

“My first assignment was at an outpatient clinic, but I was drawn to the ER,” Richesin said.

Richesin said she felt connected to people who were hurt, sick, scared and even dying. It was an honor to take care of people who’d put themselves in harm’s way while serving.

“I was involved in the lives of people in ways I had never imagined,” she said.

After achieving the rank of Airman First Class, she attended Johns Hopkins University and earned a master’s degree at Excelsior College in Albany, N.Y.

Richesin said she appreciated that the Coeur d’Alene Rotary Club chose to honor women veterans this year.

“It’s an opportunity to shine a light on women in the military,” she said. “We’re there for the same reasons [as men]. We have the same inner drive.”

Fellow honoree and Army veteran Lora Whalen agreed, noting that her time in the military helped shape her into the person she is today.

While serving in Germany in the ’80s, she honed her nursing skills and eventually transferred to the ER, where she had an experience she would never forget.

During an airshow, two F-16s collided, leading to 130 casualties. All of them came to Whalen’s emergency room.

Whalen served in the Army from 1985 to 1991. She earned the rank of captain. Today, Whalen is the director of Panhandle Health District.

This was the ninth year that Janet and Les Atchley coordinated the Rotary Veterans Day ceremony. They put hundreds of hours into interviewing veterans and preserving their stories — a task that’s more important than ever as veterans from World War II and the Korean War pass away.

Janet Atchley said the ceremony is their way of thanking the men and women who’ve served this country.

“It’s a labor of love,” she said.