Published: November 20, 2008 10:56 pm      

MEPS ‘overwhelmed’ with name suggestions

Veteran-rich West Virginia responded in a huge way to a call by the Beckley Military Entrance Processing Station for suggestions to honor a native in a plan to give its induction ceremony room a name.

The idea was generated last month by Maj. Allana Bryant, commander of the Beckley MEPS facility, located in Glen Jean.

Bryant stopped taking nominations as of Oct. 30, but apparently no date has been set for naming the honoree.

She was away Wednesday in Chicago, but an assistant operations officer, Capt. Mike Dietz, indicated there was no shortage of suggestions passed on by friends and relatives of veterans after whom to name the room.

“When it first came out, I didn’t think she would get that response she was looking for,” he said.

“She had a bunch of them last week. I don’t want to even guess (the number). She was kind of overwhelmed with the responses.”

On her desk was a half-inch folder filled with suggestions either called, faxed or e-mailed to the facility, he said.

“I don’t know if she’s set a date yet,” Dietz said. “I know she’s reviewing them.”

Bryant planned to consider more than just ribbons and medals veterans might have earned in the field of combat, indicating earlier the personal touch would likely come into play as well — such as anecdotes from the battlefield or letters sent back home to loved ones during a time of foreign conflict.

At various legislative hearings, officials often remind lawmakers that West Virginia has the highest per capita veteran population of any state.

Once the veteran has been chosen for the honor, a ceremony is planned at MEPS, and the winner’s life account will be on permanent display.

“It’s going to be hard to pick because there’s so many deserving veterans out there,” Bryant said earlier.

Among suggestions are veterans who served in World War II, the Vietnam War and Operation Red Wing in Afghanistan.

Veterans were allowed to nominate themselves and Bryant said no one would be excluded from consideration, even though he lacked a color episode, such as being taken captive by enemy forces.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com