|
Neighbors, friends, family |
|
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 |
|
By Emily Hone BLACKFOOT — “We have many unsung heroes in our communities,” Marine Sgt. Major Bill Head said Tuesday at the Firth High School Veterans Day program.
 Morning News - Tagen Towsley
Local veterans enjoy the special musical number “Sun Rise Over America” by the Mountain View Middle School choir at the Veterans Day assembly Tuesday morning at the school.
Head, a Vietnam veteran and silver star winner now retired from the United States Marine Corps., was part of an hour-long program that paid tribute to the men and women who have fought in all of America’s wars.
He spoke of his own experiences and gave some statistics on the numbers who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who were forever damaged mentally and physically by their experiences, and of the bravery and the price that must be paid for freedom.
The moving program that paid tribute to the men and women who fought for their country was arranged by FHS teacher Stewart Portela and attended by several hundred people, many of them military veterans and their families from Bingham and Bonneville counties.
FHS Principal Jeff Gee gave the welcome and three members of the 148th Field Artillery Battery posted the colors. The school choir dircted by Rebecca Leslie sang the National Anthem
The Firth Community Orchestra under the direction of Angela Carlson played the theme songs of each branch of the service as veterans of those branches stood in acknowledgment.
A member of the Idaho Falls Fire Department Pipes and Drum Corps played a patriotic medley on the bagpipe and gave a history of the instrument he said was originally used in Scotland an Ireland as a call to war but is now used primarily in the U.S. to play a farewell to firefighters and police officers killed in the line of duty.
To the accompaniment of a slide show featuring the faces of young men who died in Vietnam and Iraq Kinsey Bolinder read a poem titled “The Stranger,” written by Callie Crofts of the FHS class of 2004.
A special presentation of U.S. Army Freedom Team awards was made to 17 veterans from the area by retired Army Sgt. Henry Crumb of Idaho Falls. The certificates of appreciation were signed by Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr.
The recipients were Sgt. Eldon Lyon, Sgt. Gary Bolander, Sgt. Arlin Taylor, Sgt. Willard Johnson, Sgt. Boyd Johnson, Sgt. Dale Chambers, Cpl. Agie Harada, Sgt. Jim Shikashio, Cpl. Hero Shiosaki, Sgt. Jun Shiosaki, Sgt. Darreld Walton, 1st Lt. James Gerard, Cpl. Robert Reid, Pvt. Richard Reid, Pvt. Paul Reid; Sgt. Danny Cleverly, Sp.4 Quinn Matheson, and Sgt. Sam Walton.
Portela received a special award from the Army for his service to veterans, and FHS Student Body President Robert Goodwin accepted a special award on behalf of the school.
Following the program the veterans and their families were served lunch provided by the Firth High Key Club and its advisor, Tia Roghaar.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 November 2008 )
|
