John Bridges

3 weeks ago | kplctv.com | John Bridges

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Jared Maze joined the U.S. Army right out of high school and served for 4 years before joining the National Guard. He served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 and returned to that country again in 2010. “We did combat security and operations there. It was really fighting insurgency within Iraq. Tense moments. When you fight insurgency, you don’t see the enemy up front.

1 month ago | kplctv.com | John Bridges

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Volunteering comes naturally for this week’s Hometown Hero. The Moss Bluff man learned about volunteering at an early age. “I was taught from the other side,” said Gray. “And I mean the other side of needing help. Because growing up where I was, wasn’t always the privileged opportunity I got to grow up in. Getting to see the help my family received inadvertently helped me as a child. It helped me understand that we all need help at some point.

1 month ago | kplctv.com | John Bridges

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - 1st Sgt. Kenneth Smith served 41 years in the U.S. Army Reserve’s Finance Battalion in Lake Charles. “We handled all the finance operations, get cash, bring the money back, account for it, put it back on the battlefield. Retrieve it off the battlefield. Go on different missions to get money out to the soldiers.”Smith served in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield in 1990 and was in Iraq in 2003 and Kuwait in 2013. “Oh yeah, every day I was there,” recalled Smith.

1 month ago | kplctv.com | John Bridges

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Volunteers keep the Salvation Army operation in Lake Charles going each day. “It’s pretty much 365 days a year,” said Major Michael Knott. “You have Christmas rolling around. You always have opportunities. If you like to cook, prepare meals, you can come and do that and serve it to our guests that are with us for a brief time.”From distributing toys at Christmas to providing meals after a disaster, those volunteers help others in need.

1 month ago | kplctv.com | John Bridges

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - In the last 23 years, we’ve had the opportunity to tell the stories of military veterans who served their country in conflicts from World War II to Afghanistan. The late Noah Lewis is a Lake Charles man who served in the Seabees. “Our motto was ‘can do.” I don’t care what it was, we would do it. We figured out a way to do it.