American Legion Post 25 was brimming with veterans and their families in attendance on Friday for the fourth-annual Veterans’ free dinner, provided by the local Shrine.
While the pork loins were sizzling on the grill, the grilling crew, consisting of Brian Tabit, president, Mylan Hanson, second vice president, and Jason Langley, third vice president, explained they do this every year “to show respect to local veterans and to highlight what their service has done for our country. This year is the biggest crowd ever. We hope it continues to grow.”
The speaker for the evening was Ed Helt, who talked about what started out as Armistice Day is now Veterans Day due to the fact that more conflicts occurred and the new name better reflected what was happening to our soldiers. The end of the evening was a change of pace to lighten the mood of those present.
According to Helt, “We have all been under stress with what felt like run-a-away politics, so we are going to lighten the mood by singing some of the most popular WWII songs.”
David Frederick, commander of Legion Post 25, was pleased with the turnout and noted that everyone, “whether they could carry a tune or not,” seemed to enjoy themselves.
