LITTLE ROCK — Two veterans with ties to Garland County will be inducted into the Arkansas Military Veterans Hall of Fame on Saturday.
They are Thomas Blodgett Arwood, 84, of Hot Springs Village and Edmund J. Kapica, 93, of Hot Springs, who is now under hospice care at the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock.
Fifteen inductees from throughout the state will be honored at a banquet ceremony at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock with U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., presenting the Hall of Fame medallions.
Arwood, a retired Army major general, was born in Toledo, Ohio, and grew up in Fostoria, Ohio. He and his wife, Marget, moved to Hot Springs Village in 1997. They have one son who lives in Michigan.
Arwood graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and auditing and was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program in 1959. His service includes tours of duty in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm.
His military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, 11 awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Parachutist and Air Assault badges. He was inducted into the Army Quartermaster Hall of Fame in 2012.
Kapica is the son of a Polish immigrant and grew up in Chicago.
He was drafted into the Army and served as a private first class in the June 1944 D-Day assault on Omaha Beach, where he worked cleaning mines and other impediments from the beach. He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.
In 1957, Kapica moved to Hot Springs, where he worked as a watch and clock repairman.
His military awards include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two battle stars. He was recently
presented the French Legion of Honor medal at his hospital bedside.
Saturday’s induction banquet is open to the public. Tickets may be purchased at $55 each or $500 for a table for 10 by calling The Arkansas Military Veterans’ Hall of Fame at (888) 329-3845.