Hillsdale Daily News reporter Corey Murray was inducted into the Hillsdale County Veterans Hall of Valor on Nov. 11 for his military service and involvement in the community. 

The organization recognized Murray during its 21st annual ceremony in Plaster Auditorium.

“Like many veterans before me, I felt the need to be involved in something bigger when I returned home,” Murray said. “To continue my service to my community beyond my military service.”

From 2005 to 2011, Murray served as a junior enlisted soldier, producing daily intelligence summaries at an Army Service Component Command, the U.S. Army Pacific in Hawaii, and later at the Special Operations Command in the Pacific. 

After returning from the Pacific, Murray was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division in Fort Stewart, Georgia, and was deployed to Iraq. He transferred to the Michigan National Guard in 2011 and served there until 2014. 

Since then, Murray has lived in Hillsdale, where he is a crime and emergency services staff reporter for the Hillsdale Daily News. He has been a volunteer firefighter at the Hillsdale Township Fire Department and has organized fire department events for the community such as Trunk-or-Treat at the Hillsdale fairgrounds.

“We were doing the Trunk-or-Treat at our station and Corey came to me one day and said, ‘Mike, I think we can do this bigger and better and use other facilities in town,’” Hillsdale County Fire Chief Mike Rose said.

Murray also founded the Hillsdale County Veterans Coalition, which provides local veterans with housing, transportation, a designated veterans probation officer, and employment services. 

Murray is a member of the American Legion, Post 53. He recently raised $15,000 for the legion to provide a mobile canteen unit – an emergency response vehicle stocked with food, hydration materials, and extra equipment for first responders to be dispatched on scenes at short notice.

“You see these guys after hours on the scene, especially during the summertime, where they’re completely exhausted and partially dehydrated, but still giving it their all,” Murray said. “I’m just proud that we can go out there and try and keep those guys in the fight a little bit longer.”

This past July, Murray led Post 53 in raising more than $35,000 to take over the annual Great American Celebration for Independence Day at the Hillsdale County fairgrounds. 

“The look on those kids’ faces inside the fairgrounds that night made that 13-hour day and seven months of work, fundraising, and organizing completely worth it,” Murray said.

Hillsdale Buick and GMC dealer Ken Joswiak has gotten to know Murray working on the Trunk-or-Treat event and the Baw Beese Bash over the years.

“A community, especially of our size, really needs people like Corey Murray to be able to get out and get involved so that these events can continue to happen,” Joswiak said.