At 11 a.m., the VFW honor guard holds a gun salute and the traditional playing of “Taps” at the Homer Emblem Club Veterans Memorial on Pioneer Avenue. The parade proceeds west on Pioneer Avenue, south on Main Street and then east on the Sterling Highway to the Gen. Buckner Veterans Memorial at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. Legion and VFW chaplains hold a short service at the second memorial.
“We’ll have a nice service at both places,” said Bill Sheldon, Post 16 Legion Commander. “We’ll repeat again why it’s Veterans Day.”
Veterans Day began Nov. 11, 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 to be Armistice Day in honor of the sacrifices made by U.S. soldiers in World War I. It commemorated the end of hostilities on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918. President Dwight Eisenhower proclaimed Nov. 11 to be Veterans Day in 1954. In Australia, Canada, Colombia, the United Kingdom and Ireland Nov. 11 is celebrated as Remembrance Day and as Poppy Day in South Africa and Malta.
Traditionally, poppies are worn as a symbol of remembrance. Poppies can be purchased from tins placed around town, Sheldon said.
Alaska has a high percentage of veterans, Sheldon said. Last week, the Veterans Administration opened a new clinic in Kenai to serve Kenai Peninsula veterans.
“That’s one reason we push Veterans Day, because of the amount of veterans we have,” Sheldon said.
The 180 members of the American Legion include veterans of conflicts going back to World War II, and includes some veterans who have been members for 55 to 60 years, such as George Meeker, Bob Turkington, Harold Billups and Paul Jones. Boy Scouts will parade in uniforms representing soldiers and Marines from those conflicts, Sheldon said.
The Veterans Administration is urging veterans to wear their medals on Veterans Day as part of its Veterans Pride Initiative.
“We expect Americans will see our decorated heroes unite in spirit at ceremonies, in parades and elsewhere as a compelling symbol of courage and sacrifice,” said R. James Nicholson, secretary of the VA.
That’s pretty common in Europe, said Jim Dress, VFW commander. It’s a tradition that hasn’t caught on locally.
“We’d support anybody intent on doing that,” he said.
Veterans and parade watchers won’t have to sneak out of work to join ceremonies. Unlike other national holidays, Veterans Day is always on Nov. 11 — Saturday for 2006. Events start from 9-10 a.m. with coffee and doughnuts at the American Legion Post 16 on East End Road. Parade participants muster at 10:45 a.m. in the Kachemak Bowl parking lot at the corner of Lake Street and Pioneer Avenue.
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