HONORING OUR VETERANS

Veterans Day 2009

Gallery

STAFF REPORTS

Veterans Day. A time for memories.

A day set aside to honor men and women who have served and are serving the nation, many thousands making the ultimate sacrifice.

An opportunity for veterans to pass on to today’s youth the mantle of patriotism and love of country.

“We can’t forget those guys who gave up their time and their lives in their youth so we can have the freedoms we have today,” said World War II Marine Paul Sovik of Youngstown.

Veterans Day services and programs were conducted across the Mahoning and Shenango valleys in schools, at cemeteries and military monuments and in churches and veterans organizations’ post homes.

Veterans Day is a “solemn, important occasion to pay tribute to the men and women of the community who served ... neighbors who fought for the preservation of our way of life,” said Earl McAlway during the annual Veterans Day observance conducted by VFW Post 6488 and its Ladies Auxiliary at the post home in Coitsville.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to call myself a sailor and to be a flag officer in the greatest Navy in the world,” said Rear Admiral Julius S. Caesar, featured speaker, who was introduced by Youngstown Municipal Judge Robert Milich, a retired Air Force colonel.

Caesar, a black man raised in Cleveland, said he is especially honored to talk about military diversity from the Navy perspective.

He said black history is really American history, and the Navy is a microcosm of the nation.

“We owe it to ourselves and those who follow in our footsteps to learn about the black Americans who made history, who served against all odds and who laid the foundation for the diverse Navy we have today,” he said.

“Like them, we must provide examples of leadership for our younger black sailors to look to and emulate,” Caesar said.

When they see a black in leadership role, it affirms who they are and lets soldiers and sailors know what is possible, he said.

“We have to instill in our youth love of God and country and themselves,” said the Rev. Lawrence Thomas, who provided the invocation and benediction.

Boardman

Veterans from the Boardman area got to “enjoy in the elementary lunch experience” at West Boulevard Elementary School, said Principal Alphonse Cervello.

Veterans ate lunch with elementary students and watched as kindergarten and third-grade students performed patriotic music.

One of those veterans was Bob Yambar, who served in the Navy from 1989 to 2001 as a signalman.

“This is the one time I go out and definitely feel good,” Yambar said. “I think it’s really good.”

Yambar wore a black jacket with patches to signify the places he had visited aboard the USS San Jacinto, the boat commissioned by George H.W. Bush as the first to launch to Baghdad in Operation Desert Storm.

“They always go in and pound them first,” Yambar said of the Navy.

Larry Baker, who served in the Army from 1992 to 1998 as a specialist, said elementary school programs celebrating veterans are important for teaching children.

“Everyone has a responsibility to serve, not necessarily in the military, but to serve [his or her] country,” he said.

The program is in its fourth year and has grown from a dozen guests to about a hundred, Cervello said.

“I think they have to understand how everyone has a job to do in one way or another to serve the country,” said Angelo Italiano, a retired Army colonel who served from 1963 to 1993.

“Everyone is not a basketball player or a baseball player,” he said.

Canfield

Canfield Village Middle School students wiped tears from their eyes during an assembly to honor local veterans.

Principal Ron Infante said Wednesday’s Veterans Day assembly was “the most important day of the school year” when addressing the students and several local veterans in attendance, one of whom was a former student at the school and was the guest speaker.

William Ward, a Youngstown police officer and Canfield alumnus, served in the Marine Corps from 1997 to 2003 and achieved the rank of corporal.

“Of all the things I’ve earned and held, that title [of Marine] is the biggest honor,” Ward said.

Ward talked about how he would see his father’s Army “dress greens” hanging in the closet before he’d go to school every morning. He credited his father for instilling a sense of patriotism in him.

One highlight of the ceremony was when the seals of the military branches were projected onto a screen. Veterans from the respective branches stood and were applauded.

Another highlight was the playing of a movie clip depicting a full military funeral. Many of the students and veterans held back tears while some could not.

The ceremony ended with the playing of taps to honor all veterans, living or deceased, for their service.

Warren

In Warren, Renee Allen of Leavittsburg, a teaching assistant at the Willard K-8 School, has been sending care packages to her son, Sgt. Nathan Allen, and his fellow soldiers serving in Iraq.

“They said they wanted to send me something in return, and I said, ‘No,’ so they sent me this flag, and instead of keeping it, I wanted to have it put up here so every day when I come to work I can look up and think of my son and all of those guys,” she said Wednesday in front of the school.

A short time earlier, Army recruiters from Niles raised the flag in front of the school, then lowered it to half-staff in honor of the soldiers who died at Fort Hood in Texas last week.

The flag served as the focal point for a Veterans Day commemoration that included singing, poetry reading and the performance of the Pledge of Allegiance in sign language by students.

The ceremony also included a tearful explanation by Renee Allen of the dangerous work her son and his fellow military police officers do.

When she showed a reporter a photo of her son, she explained that the writing on the back is smeared from her tears.

“He’s my hometown hero,” she said of her son, who is due to return to the United States at the end of January.

Allen is a 2007 graduate of the Trumbull Career and Technical Center and Warren G. Harding High School.

“If you ever see a veteran, thank them,” Sgt. Nicholas Hunt told the children at the conclusion of the ceremony. Hunt was Allen’s recruiter and said Allen signed up to serve in the military for five years and received a $20,000 bonus.

Hubbard

Kindergarten through fourth-graders at Roosevelt Elementary, 700 strong and dressed in various combinations of red, white and blue, demonstrated their appreciation for veterans during a 45-minute program.

Students filled the bleachers in the gym, and two large groups of students sat on the gym floor. The youngsters on the floor flanked the procession of Cub Scout Pack 100, which presented the colors, and representatives of Hubbard VFW Post 3767, who carried American, prisoner-of-war and post flags.

Bill McMonagle, VFW post commander who served in the Marine Corps, Army and Navy, said the veterans’ presence helps the children see the faces of those who served. He had a tour of duty in Korea.

Bobby Orr, post senior vice commander, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, said, “I think it helps the generations understand ... our service gave them a chance in life.”

Ray Soloman, principal, introduced the program, which honored about 100 veterans. He said the school invited veterans, relatives of students, to participate.

Andrea Lewis, music teacher, coordinated the program of prose and music. “This is a whole school effort,” she said, adding that teachers on the fine-arts committee contributed.

Waving handmade paper flags of an American eagle, Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam’s hand and the Liberty Bell, along with a host of paper American flags, students sang “America the Beautiful,” “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “Proud to be an American.” Third-graders were featured in “America the Free.”

Salem

James Dickens of Salem and a Vietnam veteran, spoke on “Honoring the Sacrifices of America’s Veterans” at Sterling House Assisted Living’s Veterans Day observance.

Dickens is the quartermaster at the York Drexler Post 5532 in Washingtonville, is on the board of directors of the VFW Ohio Charities and is a past commander of the VFW in Ohio.

He said the average age of the World War II veterans is now about 85.

Still, he told the group of about 50 men and women from that era that they “need to tell their stories. The sights and sounds of their experiences of World War II affected a whole generation.”

Dickens said the national anthem lyrics include “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

He added, “It’s the land of the free, but that’s because of the bravery you veterans showed.”

But people today are forgetting the sacrifices veterans made.

Church bells would ring at 11 a.m. Nov. 11, even though it wasn’t Sunday. From that, Dickens said, he learned of the Armistice that ended World War I.

“What ever happened to that?” he asked. “We’ve sort of lost touch, the way some things are today.”

He served in Vietnam and won the Bronze Star with the Oak Leaf Cluster during 29 months of service in the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade. He is retired from Ohio Edison.

When he returned from his service, Dickens would go to vote because he had that freedom.

“I would take my son, who was 4, 5 or 6 years old, and he would watch me,” he said. “He probably knew more about the candidates than I did.

“There are millions of people who still have their freedom because of what you did. You literally saved the world. We defeated two of the most powerful machines of military might ever established.”