Retired Utah Guardsman among Eleven Veterans Honored at University of Utah

By Lt. Col. Hank McIntire

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SALT LAKE CITY — Eleven veterans were honored Nov. 9 in a special ceremony at the University of Utah.

Included in that group was retired Sgt. 1st Class Gordon Ewell (front row, fifth from left in the photo below),  of the Utah National Guard, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Ewell fulfilled 59 combat missions in 2005-2006 as part of the a route-clearance team of Engineers trained to detect and remove improvised explosive devices.

Ewell's vehicle was hit six times by IEDs during his time in Iraq. As a result of these incidents he suffers from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as broken vertebrae and the loss of sight in his right eye.

Here is a list of the 11 honorees for 2012:

James Hoyt Andrews
Marine Corps, Korea

Gil Booth
Army, World War II

Richard Lee Burns
Air Force, World War II, Korea

Richard S. Dixon
Army, Vietnam

Gordon L. Ewell
Army, Iraqi Freedom

Kimel P. (Kim) Fisher
Army, Vietnam

Edwin B. Herrneckar
Army, Vietnam

Charles R. Hughes
Army, World War II

Paul W. Smith
Navy, World War II

Joseph W. Stobbe
Army, Navy, World War II

Clyde E. Weeks, Jr.
Marine Corps, World War II