Community Corner

Photos and Video: Flint Hill, American Legion Honor Veterans

Annual Patriots Day celebration, Post 180 service give thanks to those that have served

Commander Fred Kacher stood before hundreds of people Friday, trying to put into words what it means to be a veteran, and, why people should continue to thank them.

He's spoken in front of thousands, tens of thousands, before, he said, but at Flint Hill Elementary School, with an average audience age of seven and a half, it was more important than ever he get it right. 

"The heroes we read about in history books were boys and girls who kept doing the right thing. We are a country blessed with so many heroes," Kacher said. "We can read what we want, worship where we want, grow up to be whatever we want to be. It's freedom that those that have fought overseas have secured for us."

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Kacher was the guest speaker at Flint Hill Elementary School's annual Patriots Day celebration, a tradition that began around 1985 to celebrate the spirit of America, said Principal Sal Rivera, but was expanded a decade ago to also honor veterans.

Veterans from all wars dating back to World War II were in the audience Friday, including Mayo Sturdevant Stuntz, a 96-year-old veteran of World War II and also a local historian.

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Students from kindergarten through sixth grade performed songs -- from You're A Grand Old Flag to "The Presidents' Rap" -- to honor the veterans and America.

They were quiet only to hear Kacher's advice: Be kind. Listen more. Help each other. See the world in others' eyes.

"Time is the most precious gift we have to give," Kacher said. "You need to ask yourself, 'How am I going to spend my time? Am I going to spend it improving myself, helping others, or am I going to spend all of it watching TV?"

"I look around this room, this school, this great town and see people who are learning, who are living lives of purpose and conscience," he said.

At the American Legion Post 180's annual Veterans Day service, Marine Corps Vietnam veteran David Feiring talked about a "gutsy" crew of young men and women whose stories aren't often told: those waging the early stages of battle in the Pacific in the early years of World War II. While most troops, and the attention on them, were focused in Europe in the early part of World War II, a separate group of soldiers were fighting early ground with the Japanese. They had little food, little ammunition, little ground to work with.

"There was nothin' new, nothin' fancy," Feiring said. 

But it was those veterans, often unnoticed, who paved the way for Americans to later be successful in the Western theater, he said.

Several World War II veterans were in attendance at the celebration, including Norm Fisette, Carolyn Fix, Stan DeSantis, Maud Robinson, Edwin Luck, Lary Rentrop, Lee Reynolds and Russ Simpson.

"I have to give all of you who served in World War II a round of applause," he said.

As Martha Hatter of the Auxiliary Unit 180 laid a wreath, three men shot rifles into a clear blue sky; the solemn notes of Taps echoed in the hall.

"Thank you," Feiring said to the group with a nod.


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