For immediate release Friday, October 23, 1998
Contact: Melissa Forsythe or Mark Pfeiffer

Governor Paul Patton Recognizes Kentucky Veterans

The men and women who’ve served our nation’s military will be honored Monday, October 26^th in Frankfort, as Governor Paul Patton proclaims a special week in honor of Kentucky’s veterans. "These brave men and women, and their families, support our most precious asset, our liberty", Governor Patton said. "The military is a significant and valued part of Kentucky and remembering what we owe to the people who have protected our freedom is the right thing to do."

The ceremony will be held at the Frankfort Cemetery, at the Kentucky Military Memorial, at 1:00 p.m. Veterans’ Affairs Commissioner Leslie Beavers, a retired Army Brigadier General from Stanton, will officiate. Veterans’ organizations across Kentucky have been invited to attend. Military honor guards will be present.

As Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Affairs, General Beavers, a West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, is responsible for overseeing all state programs that benefit Kentucky’s more than 360-thousand veterans, and that will include the two new veterans’ nursing homes scheduled for construction in the vicinity of Hazard and Madisonville, funded by $10 million from the state budget surplus , and additional federal money. Governor Patton, with legislative support, placed those nursing homes as the top priorities on his surplus spending list. In cooperation with the Kentucky General Assembly, the governor also signed into law a measure to establish the first state veterans’ cemeteries in Kentucky. Additionally, Kentucky will debut its first specialty military license plates in December of this year. The governor and Mrs. Patton paid tribute to Kentuckians who were killed during World War Two recently during a visit to the American Cemetery in Normandy, France.