With Veterans Day approaching next week, several ceremonies and events are planned in Warren County in honor of America’s military service members.
Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day, was initially established to mark the end of major hostilities in World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, so Veterans Day ceremonies are typically held at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11.
This will be the case with a ceremony planned for next week at the Tribute to Veterans Memorial in Warrenton, according to Rick Mantione, a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2180.
“There will be a Color Guard with the VFW, and the Honor Guard will be the Marine Corps League in town here,” Mantione said. “We all work together. After the ceremony, we will have a free lunch at the Elks Club.”
The main speaker at the ceremony will be Capt. Aubrey Braddock, he added.
“She is a captain in the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and she’s in charge of a class teaching Army captains, and I’ve heard that she did a change-of-command ceremony down there and really knocked it out of the park,” Mantione said.
Mantione said that, weather permitting, the ceremony will be held at the Tribute to Veterans Memorial. In the event of inclement weather, the entire ceremony will be held at the Elks Lodge.
In addition to the Warrenton ceremony, American Legion Post 180 in Marthasville will also host an 11 a.m. ceremony Nov. 11. This will be followed by a cross shoot wheel at 1 p.m. and a bingo social at 1:30 p.m., according to a social media post for the event.
Following the Nov. 11 ceremony in Warrenton, at 1 p.m., members of the Tribute to Veterans Memorial team will visit Daniel Boone Elementary School to accept a check for money collected through the school’s annual fundraiser for the memorial.
“They have been doing a penny drive for many years now to raise money to maintain the memorial,” Mantione said, adding that the students deserve praise for their efforts in support of the memorial. “They do a great job putting on a presentation,” he said.
“There’s other activities going on also,” Mantione noted, to commemorate Veterans Day both before and after Nov. 11.
VFW Post 2180 and American Legion Post 180 will meet around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Oak Pointe Assisted Living in Warrenton for a presentation for the residents starting at 10 a.m., Mantione said.
“We’re doing the Color Guard, the presentation of the colors, and then the Legion is going to do the Honor Guard, which is the firing squad and the bugle,” he said, adding that there would also be a speaker but he wasn’t sure who it would be.
“And then on the 12th, the day after Veterans Day, the VFW will do a Color Guard and a speech at Holy Rosary Church in the gym at 9 o’clock,” Mantione said, adding that he may be the speaker for this event.
Mantione said that while each group has its own focus, the various veterans service organizations in Warren County do a good job of working collaboratively.
“We all have some things that we do independently, but in this community, the Marthasville Legion, the Marine Corps League and the VFW, we all work together,” he said, adding that AMVETS is also a very active group locally and coordinates with the other veteran organizations.
