Festival draws military supporters for Cleburne VFW

By Taylor Short/reporter3@trcle.com

Despite the somber mood left by last Thursday’s shooting at Fort Hood, the community came out with heads, and hearts, lifted to praise our troops and brought Sgt. Jonathan Laureles a step closer to establishing a Cleburne Veterans of Foreign Wars post at the Troop Rally Music Festival Saturday.

Less than 10 minutes after the event began, Laureles chatted with soldier Charles Riggs, who returned to his home of Godley in August after being stationed in Colorado, and who became the first of 11 new members he recruited for the VFW Saturday.

From 3-8 p.m., The Dirty Jewett Band with Lindsey Moore and Friends, and later blues outfit The Wood Grain, filled Hulen Park with the sounds of classic country and blues as Starbucks and The Red Chew Chew BBQ & Grill filled attendees’ stomachs with coffee, brisket burritos and nachos.

“Starbucks is all about community events, and we wanted to donate our time and our coffee to this cause,” said Amanda Lowery with the Starbucks located at 1309 W. Henderson St. in Cleburne.

As the music continued, dozens of people strolled along Hillsboro Street to view and talk about the classic Mustangs, Corvettes and Cameros with dazzling paint jobs parked nearby, presented by Real Rodz hot rod club of Johnson County.

Cleburne City Councilman John Warren spoke between songs, thanking residents for attending the event.

“When they go off and risk their lives, they come back with no arms, legs, et cetera, and we need to do as much as we can,” he said. “On behalf of the city council and the staff, we want to thank you for your efforts to support our veterans.”

Laureles, medic for the Washington Army National Guard’s 181st Brigade Support Battalion, 81st Brigade Combat Team, took the microphone to proclaim his continued desire to use his skills in service and to encourage others to keep up the good fight.

“To use those skills to combat violence, poverty and injustice just as we did in war. And most importantly, to lift our brothers and sisters that have fallen,” Laureles said. “They call us heroes; let us not retire that title.”

At sunset, the thousands of Christmas lights wrapped around tree trunks and strewn from branch to branch in preparation for the Whistle Stop Christmas event lit up as The Wood Grain played.

Stepping off stage, Jason Jewett of the Dirty Jewett Band and founder of Real Rodz, thanked attendees and the Laureles family for the festival.

Jewett said that although the Real Rodz car show proceeds usually go to the American Heart Association, he is devoting a portion to the VFW this time.

He said he’s glad to help because he has a personal stake in the military with several friends serving — some who never made it back home.

“One of our good friends, Jeremy Allemon, passed away in Iraq in 2005. It was an IED, a road bomb,” he said. “It means a lot, with a good friend passing away over there, to be able to come up here and help others. It means the world.”

Near the end of The Wood Grain’s set, guitarist and singer Joey Black asked Laureles to the front where friends, family and strangers sang “Happy Birthday” in honor of Laureles’ 29th birthday that day.

At the end of the day, Laureles and the Cleburne VFW was just six members away from creating a post a younger generation of veterans can call their own.

“I really didn’t know what to expect, but I’m very pleased, not necessarily just the numbers, but all the people that turned out that are younger guys from Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo,” he said. “They were really into it and really excited about getting it going. So, it was nice to actually get to meet, face-to-face, with all of them.”

Veterans interested in joining may contact Laureles at jonathan.laureles@us.army.mil.