VFW holds ceremony

It lasted only two minutes, but the gravity of its meaning was sincere and heartfelt.

Members of Horse Plains VFW Post 3596 held their fifth annual Veterans Day ceremony at Plains Cemetery last Monday morning. Six men - Randy Evans with the Army flag, Noah Hathorne with the Marine Corps flag, Rocky Hart with the Navy flag, Greg Davis with the Air Force flag, and Ed Foste with the Coast Guard flag - lined up at the military section of the cemetery. Heather Allen, an Air Force veteran and the post quartermaster, placed a wreath to honor veterans of past and present.

At exactly 11 a.m., Ron Kilbury, the post commander, reads the same proclamation cited by veteran groups across the country. "We gather here today at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, of the year two thousand twenty-four to place this wreath in remembrance of those who have served this great nation before us; to honor those who now serve this great nation; and to salute those who stand by them, in times of peace, and in times of war. May none ever be forgotten. And may God bless this great nation," said Kilbury, who served in both the Army and Navy before retiring in 2010.

"Although the ceremony on Veterans Day is short, it serves to honor the service that has been given and is ongoing, reminding everyone of the purpose of the federal holiday," said Kilbury, who will also conduct the annual flag retirement ceremony in the back parking lot of the VFW on the evening of Dec. 7.

The ceremony was done at 11 a.m. in remembrance of the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. Known then as the Great War, governments of the warring nations of the Allied Powers and the Central Powers had signed an armistice earlier that morning and planned to officially halt the conflict at 11a.m. Only minutes prior, Pvt. Henry Gunther charged a German position and was killed, the last American soldier to die in the four-year war.

Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first Armistice Day to honor the 116,516 servicemen who perished in the war. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed it to Veterans Day to pay tribute to all U.S. military men and women, dead or alive.

Nearly a dozen community members and members of American Legion Post 52 showed up for the ceremony. As the ceremony came to a close, Plains resident Kathi Rogue, the wife of Army veteran Steve Rogue, shouted, "God bless America."