Holcomb shares Thanksgiving meal with deployed National Guard soldiers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Gov. Eric Holcomb said he’s asking Hoosiers to keep deployed National Guard soldiers in their Thanksgiving prayers.

Holcomb and Maj. Gen Dale Lyles, the adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard, visited soldiers deployed in Kenya on Tuesday and Wednesday for an early Thanksgiving meal. About 130 Indiana National Guard soldiers are currently deployed in that country to support internal security in the Horn of Africa region. In an interview for All INdiana Politics, Holcomb said he and Lyles spent about three hours on the ground having dinner with the troops and visiting with them.

“Pretty sentimental for me,” Holcomb said of the visit. “I just couldn’t be prouder. I can tell you their spirits are good.”

Holcomb said the soldiers’ duties take them both inside and outside the wire assisting Kenyan forces. He said their efforts will lead to better security not only in the region, long one of the most troubled on the African continent, but also ultimately here at home. He said when he asked the soldiers what he could do to help them, they requested more ping pong balls and cornhole bags to pass the time, a request he said he plans to fulfill soon.

“I would just ask any Hoosier who feels so inclined, this Thanksgiving dinner, when you’re sitting around your Thanksgiving dinner table, if you feel so inclined to include them in your prayer list, I think that would mean a lot, and I know they would feel it,” said Holcomb.

All INdiana Politics airs every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on WISH-TV.