Update!

Sorry the updates are not coming very quickly...there is so much going on right now!

We are working on the website right now; I will keep you posted on the progress as often as possible.  In the meantime, please keep spreading the word about the blog, have people "follow" it so that they can be kept up-to-date!

Be sure to check the Volunteers Needed tab and Donations Needed tab in order to help with the project!  Any and all help is welcome, contact me so I can give you more specifics if you need them!

Thank you all and I will post updates as often as I can!

Angela

Cajundome Re-Dedication

On Veteran's Day, 2010 the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana re-dedicated the Dome to my father.  The ceremony was very nice and the updates done to the monument and the area surrounding it are wonderful.


Plaque placed at existing monument at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana

My husband and children joined me along with my father's brothers and one of his sisters.  I was honored to have several other people attend as well.  Mike Brown, the backseater that was with my father when he died.  Jim Hodgson, the Director of the OV-10 Association and a family friend, flew to Lafayette to be with us and I greatly appreciate that.  Many others that took time out of their schedule to be there.  Finally, Raymond Boute, my father's best friend in high school, was able to make it.  I had talked to him years ago and was actually able to meet him.  That was a fantastic surprise and I was so thankful to be able to meet him and spend time with him.

Below are some pictures of the event and those that attended with me.  The monument seen in the pictures has been there since 1987 and will be professionally cleaned to match the bronzing in the above picture.  The Cajundome has gone to great lengths to make this a very nice display.  If you are ever in the Lafayette area, please stop by and take a look!  You won't be dissappointed!

Jim Hodgson, Angela Bennett-Engele, monument to Capt. Steven L. Bennett and Mike Brown




Jake Buck, Angela Bennett-Engele, monument to Capt. Steven L. Bennett and Elizabeth Engele.  My kids are just wonderful!

 Again, we had a wonderful time.  A big "Thank you" to the Cajundome and all others involved in making it happen.  They presented me with a very large flower arrangement as well, it is beautiful and on my mantel at home!  Thank you so much for your hospitality.  Everything from the ceremony to the luncheon was wonderful.

Below is the speech I gave at the ceremony.  I am including it in this post as I feel it represents a story...much like that like which I am asking you to send me!  Still looking for stories, be sure to send them in!

Angela Bennett-Engele's Speech:

Thank you all for coming today, this Veteran’s Day, to celebrate the Cajundome’s 25^th Anniversary!  A special thank you to the Cajundome and to the 82^nd Airborne Division Association’s Acadiana Chapter as well as the Lafayette Rotary Club and all others involved in today’s event.

I’d like to thank them for their role in bringing my father’s story to life for those who live here, in this city, which meant so much to him.  He went to school here, from Youngsville Middle School (where the library is now proudly named after him) to Youngsville High School (where he was the co-captain of the football team…known quite affectionately as “the Ox”) to USL where he learned to fly and loved it, met my mother, graduated with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and upon graduation joined the Air Force.  He asked my mother to marry him at the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse here in Lafayette…just a piece of useless trivia for you!  Finally, and fittingly, he was buried here…at Lafayette Memorial Park Cemetery, off Pinhook…where he belongs, at home.

I remember in 1987 when the Cajundome was originally dedicated to my father and how much my family appreciated it then.  To be invited to and included in the rededication now is especially nice as we visit the Cajundome whenever we are in town.  Although I live in Texas, whenever I come to town I drive by and stop to take a look and grab a picture or two!

I believe my father would have been humbled and quite a bit amazed to have an arena dedicated to him in his home town.  I think he would have been proud to be such an integral part of the city.  Many of his family still lives here and what an honor it is for them to have this memorial local for them to visit!

I was pleased when I learned of how interested the public had been to learn more of my father and of who the man was on the memorial in front of the Cajundome.  It proves that people have not turned a blind eye to the importance of paying respect to those who have fought and died for our country.  I am even more pleased to hear that the Cajundome committee and those other groups and organizations involved did not turn a deaf ear to the pleas for more information but rather decided to educate their community further.  It shows what strong ties you have with your patrons, and they will appreciate being heard.

I hope that all who visit here will take the time to look at the new additions which are being added as well as the memorial previously placed here.  In reviewing what is put up, I hope it instills in them a need to learn more about others who acted in ways like that of my father.  He was not the only hero to come out of Vietnam, or of any other war.  If memorials like this do one thing, other than honor my father, I hope they bring awareness to the sacrifices that all men and women make on a daily basis for all of our freedoms and rights as American Citizens.

Every time I see or hear of a memorial being held for any service member, I feel proud to know that if nothing else, that group of attendees will leave feeling a sense of patriotism in a way that…up until that day…they have never felt before.  There is something about things like this type of event, which causes pride to well up inside of me.  I hope you all feel it too.  I hope you all take it with you when you leave.  I believe it is the spirit of those who have gone before us, coming back…in the form of all things American…the flag, the flyover, the monument, the pride of patriotism.  They didn’t die for nothing, they died for us!  That’s a good thing, thank you all for coming!