The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

November 11 is Veteran's Day all over the United States and we live the dream of veterans who have given their all for their country. It is a day on the Big Dry of Montana to hear about long ago heroics and sell Buddy Poppies, attend memorial services and go to potlucks to honor servicemen and women.

Meanwhile somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean between Costa Rico, Hawaii and Alaska, Matthew Louvar is living the dream for he joined the Coast Guard after graduating from high school and is stationed out of Astoria, Oregon.

Matthew is the son of Deb and Dave Louvar and, as you can imagine, with all the noise in that part of the Pacific, it makes for a worried mom and dad. However, since Matthew is the first of the Louvar family to join the Armed Forces, they are very proud parents as well.

It is appropriate that we honor Matthew in Big Sandy as well as he just started his first deployment on the Cutter Steadfast on October 23.

Matthew is learning how to become an Aviation Survival Technician although his Cutter, the Steadfast, has a wide range of what they do. They do search and rescue of most of the Northern Pacific, drug busts and they are charged with the interdiction of undocumented migratory workers trying to enter the United States. The Steadfast and its crew can pick up around 959 pounds of cocaine in any one given day of their travels through the Pacific,

When Matthew gets his training completed, he will be the person who jumps out of the helicopter and does water rescues.

This deployment that Matthew is a part of now will last for two months. Then Matthew has to be accepted into an "A" school for training is what will become his specialty. That will happen in North Carolina. After that he will be stationed permanently on one coast or the other of the United States.

Matthew would prefer to be stationed on the Pacific Coast because when he was 12 years old, he and his family went on a family vacation to Astoria and while there, visited the Maritime Museum. It was there that Matthew learned the history and stories about the Coast Guard and they have stuck with him since that time and now here he is living his life and adding to the maritime stories of the United States Coast Guard.

So, we back at home, when buying our Buddy Poppies on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month honor all veterans who have served and all those Montana men and women in the service now

Matthew is in the perfect place for him as he is in love with the sea.

The Old Dry and this part of Montana, while always home, will never look the same for him.

So, we honor him and his parents for guiding him in such a good direction. It is a dangerous time to be in the Pacific Ocean but Matthew can do it and what stories he will bring back to us all.

Jumping from a helicopter and doing a daring Ocean rescue. Yipes! "Home is the sailor, home from the sea.

Flanders Fields

Home is the hunter, home from the hill."

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields