1 week Ago By Michael Johnson
You don’t know how happy I am to move beyond elections and focus on something I can actually be proud of. That of course is Veterans Day. I can remember my very first Veterans Day event I went to as an intern for the Barnesville Record Review.
Growing up, I don’t ever recall much talk or recognition given to Veterans Day. We may have drawn some flags and maybe had a short lesson on what Veterans Day was, but the veterans themselves were removed from the picture. So when I went to that first gathering, I didn’t know what to expect.
I made my way to the front of the room, knowing I’d want to be able to get good photos. It was at the front that some of the eldest veterans found a metal folding chair to sit down. Many were wearing hats with their unit printed across the front.
Some were dressed in their finest. Others perhaps hadn’t been out in public in a while. They all deserved respect.
Some were surrounded by family members dressed in their red, white and blue. Grandchildren were proudly waving American flags. It was a sight to behold.
The crowded community room sang patriotic songs together. I heard, for the first time, the playing of Taps by a community member with his trumpet. The amount of pride in country and in those fine service men and women who were still standing their that day poured out from that place.
I went on to cover Veterans Day events annually in the Washburn, North Dakota, Memorial Hall building. I got to know the veterans there quite well, personally writing about their heroics around the world. They were inspiring, and the lives they lived after the wars they saw was truly incredible.
Most of those that made it home grabbed hold of life and sought to live it the fullest. Others were too damaged physically or mentally to ever really return to anything normal. I continued to cover Veterans Day events in Wadena, Minnesota, several years more.
Wonderfully, the program takes place in the school, where students are brought in to sit in the bleachers surrounding the gym floor which is filled with veterans and their immediate family members. Youth there can’t help but see the veterans that exist in their community. They can’t help but hear the stories of those veterans that are invited to speak.
Teachers encourage the students to make posters to wave as the veterans pass by. The music teachers have band students play songs and the elementary students sing a song just for the veterans. For those who say that kids these days don’t care, or who think that our country is backsliding, well, that may be the case in some places.
However, I am encouraged that my kids sit among veterans each Veterans Day. I am proud that they are taught to show thanks and appreciation to those who served our country. These veterans are shown honor for the whole school assembly to see.
My son came home from school in October asking questions about family members who have served in the military. The students in his class were encouraged to find out about those veterans in their life by their school teachers. It wasn’t something we had talked about before, but it was a great opportunity for my wife to talk about her two grandpas, my son’s great grandpas, who both served in the military overseas.
Both those men have now died, after living out long productive lives here in Minnesota. We are thankful for their service and for the family tree from which we extended. Maybe your community does not have a Veterans Day event and maybe you don’t know any veterans.
I just want to encourage you to take a moment even if it’s not on Veterans Day to thank a veteran. To ask them if they’ll share a story. Maybe just ask how they are doing.
These are small things that can help you form a connection with someone who served in such a way with the hope that you would never have to..
