Valwood honors veterans
Published 4:00 pm Thursday, November 9, 2017
- Derrek Vaughn | The Valdosta Daily TimesVeteran Earl Hendrix is greeted Thursday as he arrives for Valwood's 10th Annual Veterans Day program.
HAHIRA — According to Valwood middle school students, their heroes wear dog tags and combat boots.
Valwood School held its 10th Annual Veterans Day Program Thursday morning with veterans from the Army, Marines, Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force in attendance.
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Veterans were welcomed beginning at 9 a.m. and escorted via golf cart to the Rodgers Performance Hall with lower school students greeting them.
Howell Burns, an eighth-grader who dressed up as John Wayne for the program, spoke about the importance of participating in the Veterans Day program before it began.
“It’s the least we can do,” he said.
Each branch of the military was recognized during the program with middle schoolers performing their own scripts and singing. Songs included the “Coast Guard Song,” “The Marines’ Hymn,” “Anchors Aweigh,” “The Air Force Song,” “The Caissons Go Rolling Along,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and more.
Ms. Veteran America 2017 Lindsay Gutierrez, who served in the Air Force, attended the program and spoke about raising awareness for the approximately 55,000 homeless women veterans and giving women veterans recognition.
“We’re not invisible; we’re not damsels in distress,” Gutierrez said. “We deserve the same awareness as all veterans.”
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Valwood’s Veterans Day program also recognized women who were part of the workforce during World War II with a performance to the song “Rosie, the Riveter.”
“Yes, so many Americans, both men and women, helped keep our country free,” Kelsee Warren, an eighth-grader, said.
Valwood students recognized veterans who served on the battlefield and also those who served off the battlefield, such as nurses, cooks, communication workers.
“Without our nation’s Armed Forces, our country could not be the good United States that it is today,” George Tidmore, an eighth-grader, said. “We are blessed to live in a country built on pride, love, freedom and sacrifice.”
Kimberly Cannon is a Reporter with The Valdosta Daily Times. Her extension is 1376.