Veteran’s Day celebrated at Sigourney, Tri-County

            With this year’s Veteran’s Day falling on a weekend, students and faculty at Sigourney and Tri-County school districts celebrated our nation’s retired servicemen and women a day early, both with classy ceremonies made possible by student contributions.

            A Veteran’s Celebration Assembly brought honored guests and elementary students together at Sigourney Elementary on Friday morning, featuring the presentation of the coloars by American Legion Post 19 and Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) Post 2308. Members of the fifth and sixth grade chorus led the crowed in the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem, also singing a short medley of patriotic tunes for the numerous veterans in attendance.

            Ava Fineran, Xander Bell, Lily Voltenburg and Jacob Moore presented a readers theater piece, “Who is a Veteran?” as they searched to define what exactly is a veteran. The first grade class then stood to read two poems entitled “Veteran’s Day” and “We Thank Our Veterans” to their loved ones before joining them in the crowd. Boy Scouts from Troop 52 presented the thirteen folds of the American flag, which included members Brett Striegel, Holden Huffman, Matthew Brainard and Alex Dobbins. The kindergarten class was next to honor their veterans with a poem of their own, “Let’s Salute the Soldier.”

            As is swiftly becoming a tradition, members of the Quilts of Valor local chapter, Quilty Pleasures, presented five area veterans with a Quilt of Valor for their service to our country. Recipients at the elementary ceremony were Gloria Buckner, Allan Brown, Harold Woods, Jim Stout and a special quilt Jenny Bell, a third grade teacher at the elementary and a veteran. The morning concluded with the playing of each military branch’s song to recognize veterans in the crowd and the playing of Taps by Brock Alderson and Band Director Jessica Meier.

            Over at Tri-County, members of the National Honor Society (NHS) hosted area veteran’s in the school gym, including members of the Keswick Legion presenting the color. The National Anthem was played by the Tri-County band and Dylan Seaton led the Pledge of Allegiance. Seaton then introduced the school chorus for a singing of “Song for the Unsung Hero.”

            Tri-County’s featured speaker was Rabbi Decker, a school bus driver and veteran, who spoke about honoring area veterans and the Iowa Thunder Ride, a motorcycle ride to honor veterans across the state. Taps were performed by Jenna Leer and Hannah Miover, with a moment of silence led by Skyler Fisher.

            Back in Sigourney, the American Legion Post 19 and (VFW) Post 2308 moved to the high school for their second program of the day. Led by Post Commander Roger Shifflet, the ceremony featured the high school band under the direction of Meier for the “Star Spangled Banner”, “Lincoln at Gettysburg (featuring Drew Bahlmann reading from Lincoln’s famous address) and “God Bless the U.S.A.” A video created by Carson Crawford and Zech Boender for Andy Harter’s history class was shown to the assembly crowd, with the video featuring several area veterans and tracing the country’s history of war. This year’s speaker was Captain Renee Rausch, discussing the need for more young people to rise up to serve their country.

            As with the elementary ceremony, Quilty Pleasures created 10 quilts for area veterans: Herb Mohr, Marion Striegel, Carl Martin, Bill Bender, Bill Rees, Monte Bird, Roger Shifflet, Josh Vermillion, John Wilkening and Leroy James.

            The program was concluded with the playing of taps by the trumpet section of the high school band. The benediction was given to Reverend Jim Stout. 

Photos from these Veteran's Day events are available on our SmugMug page. Click here to view.

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