Independence Day from the perspective of a local Veteran

Staff Sergeant Daniel Orr served as an active duty Marine from 1988 through 1998 and shares his journey to Warsaw.

He took time off and decided to return to military duty after 9/11 re-entering the service in the North Carolina Army National Guard with the 1-130th ARB in Morrisville.

In that unit, he worked as an Apache Helicopter Crew Chief, Database administrator, Production Controller, Quality Control Rep, Supply Supervisor & Tool Room/Packaged POL Manager. He fought in Desert Storm/Desert Shield, Iraq and Afghanistan. Orr retired from the military on May 31, 2024 with a little over 31 years of service.

“Our business, Forgotten Treasures, was something that my wife (Susie) and I decided to open while I was serving in Afghanistan in 2018-2019. It was going to be a business where we would resell antiques. That has changed over the years to a Custom Embroidery, custom Direct to Garment printing and Dye Sublimation printing shop. It is located in downtown Warsaw right on Front Street.”

Orr says that his wife is the person he holds dearest in his life. “When I met her it was as if we had known each other our entire lives and were old friends. We got married in January of 1999 and are still very much in love. I am very thankful for our business and the chance to work in it side by side with my wife every day. There is nowhere that I would rather be,” said Orr.

Orr shares that Susie has been an inspiration throughout his time knowing her. Her career and care as a mother has been incredible and he admires her for the outstanding woman that she is daily.

“I can say, without a doubt, that our military needs to go back to the days where everyone, and I mean everyone, was treated exactly the same. You cannot have a cohesive team when you single out individuals or groups and give special treatment or dispensation based on the differences of those groups or individuals. This atmosphere breeds contempt and animosity between members. As a military team member, I and every other member of my team have to know that we have each other’s backs, no matter what. So, again, treat everyone the same,” he said.

“Independence Day, to me, is a day to reflect and remember just how much that our forefathers had to overcome and how much they had to sacrifice to create, what still is, the greatest country on the face of the planet, today. My hopes are that, as a society, we come back around to that train of thought and that we rekindle our sense of national pride and sense of brotherhood with our fellow citizens,” said Orr.