Businesses across Clarksville, Tennessee, marked Veterans Day on November 11 with special offers for current and former service members. For veterans who welcomed the gestures, their significance extended beyond the food: They represented recognition of military service in a city many regard as the unofficial hometown of Fort Campbell.
At Mission BBQ, service members were offered a free barbecue sandwich. The offer drew lines that frequently stretched through the front entrance and along the sidewalk. Navy veteran Steve Singleton said the show of support mattered to those who had served. "It does mean something for the veterans in the area," he said.
The appreciation prompted some veterans to reflect on how differently they were received decades earlier. Robert Hazen, an Army veteran whose service spanned 28 and a half years, recalled an absence of gratitude when he returned from Vietnam. "When we came back from Vietnam, there wasn't any appreciation at all," he said.
Steve Singleton also described the hostility veterans encountered upon returning. He said they had been spit on and treated without respect. Those recollections provided a contrast to the thanks veterans described receiving in Clarksville, where the holiday offers were one way businesses acknowledged service members, both past and present.
Hazen said he believes public attitudes toward the military have changed. In his view, people have come to recognize the contribution soldiers have made to the country. For him, the gratitude expressed now stands apart from the lack of appreciation he remembered after Vietnam.
Janet Singleton, a Navy veteran and Steve's wife, shared that enthusiasm for the recognition. "We love it. We love it when people appreciate the military," she said. Her response echoed the importance other veterans placed on being acknowledged, beyond the immediate benefit of a complimentary meal.
For Hazen, that acknowledgment also happens outside Veterans Day celebrations. He said people thank him for his service when they see him wearing his hat on the street. Those encounters were among the small expressions of gratitude he described with appreciation. "I'm really pleased. Clarksville has just been a really good place to stay," he said.
