John Bridges

3 weeks 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.

1 month ago | kplctv.com | John Bridges

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - In 2017, David Simmons met cardiologist King White for the first time. He was here in Lake Charles to thank White for saving his life. Exactly one year before, Simmons went into cardiac arrest on a North Carolina tennis court. King White was summoned from a nearby court. “I felt for his pulse,” recalled White. “There was no pulse. I knew he was in cardiac arrest.

1 month ago | kplctv.com | John Bridges

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Right after 9/11 Army Green Beret William Howell, Jr. found himself overseas and ready to fight. “On October 19, 2001, 38 days after the towers fell, 6 Green Beret teams and 2 CIA teams were in field, into Afghanistan,” said Howell. “I was actually able to be a part of all that.”Howell says their mission was clear. “The purpose was to disrupt and destroy enemy, Period. Look for em, find em, kill em. Period.”But Howell says adjusting to civilian life back home was hard.