American Legion goes to school to honor vets

At the request of Orcas Island School District (OISD) Superintendent/High School Principal Barbara Kline, representatives of the Voyle K. Martin, Orcas Island American Legion Post, came to Orcas High School on Thursday, Nov. 6, to conduct a Veterans Day Memorial service. Because Veterans Day, Nov. 11, is a holiday, the school will not be open that day.

The Legion’s First Officer, Larry Everett, compiled the statements for the ceremony.

Legion Adjunct Jim Baxter said, “Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb; a jagged scar; a certain look in their eye. Others may carry the evidence inside of them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg; or perhaps another sort of inner steel – the souls ... forged in the refinery of adversity.

“So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say ‘Thank You.’ That’s all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have received, or were awarded.”

Larry Everett, speaking on behalf of the Prisoners of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) said, “We are compelled to never forget that while we enjoy our daily pleasures, there are others who have endured and may still be enduring the agonies of pain, deprivation and imprisonment.”

Everett called the students’ attention to a table set for one, symbolizing the POW/MIAs, and said, “The table is small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner, alone against his or her suppressors.”

Veteran Carol Clark told the students, “As we put aside the brown and blue and green fabrics that made us one people on the battlefields, we can hold in our minds the tolerance we have achieved. In tolerance there is progress – progress toward a better and happier world.”

Janis Ghazel concluded the services by singing Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”

The American Legion also held a service at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at the Legion Post.

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