Things are a bit different in 2020. How many times have we heard THAT this year? Wednesday, November 11 is Veterans Day. The traditional celebration of our veterans at the schools will not take place this year as the schools are mostly now in distance learning.
The Brainerd Honor Guard will hold a short ceremony at the All Veterans Memorial at 11 am on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. This is not an advertised event because people should not gather in these COVID times. According to the Brainerd VFW website, “Veterans will do a flag raising, fire three volleys and play taps. They do this every year regardless of rain, sleet, snow, cold or COVID. A photo story will be on this website under News Stories 2020 sometime later in the day.”
Brainerd VFW Post Chaplin Mark Persons joined us on the morning show Wednesday morning to talk about Veterans Day.
“There is Independence Day July 4th when our country was freed from foreign rule, thanks to those who fought for independence.
There is Memorial Day when we honor and remember those who died for our country.
Armistice Day, later renamed Veterans Day, was created when WWI ended on the 11th day of the 11th month in 2018….102 years ago today!
We should also remember those who fought against the Axis powers of Germany and Japan in the global conflict of WWII. The Axis plan was to divide the world and America in two. Germany was going to have everything east of the Mississippi River and Japan would have the west. Which side of the river do you live on? Some 440,000 American servicemembers died between 1941 and 1945 fighting to keep that from happening.
Veterans Day celebrates service to our country by all veterans, regardless of whether or not they saw combat. Being in the military is a commitment to America. Those in service pledge their lives to defend our country. No one can quit or walk away until the enlistment is up.
Some were drafted into service in past wars. I signed up to do the high-tech electronic work I already knew. Things were going well until orders came to go to Vietnam. There is no way to refuse orders and they never said it would be easy. I spent a year in Vietnam under terrible living conditions, but fortunately I lived to be here today.
Everyone has a story about their service in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and now the Space Force.”
The Brainerd Honor Guard, made up of veterans from the VFW, American Legion and DAV, will partake in a small traditional ceremony at the local Veterans Memorial next to the court house. This event is to honor veterans living and dead and is not intended to be a public performance. During this pandemic we ask that spectators refrain from congregating at the memorial for the health and safety of our veterans in the honor guard. However, be sure to see the photographical record of the event at the website: https://www.brainerdvfw.org/veterans-day.html