Iowa Wesleyan celebrates Veterans Day

Iowa Wesleyan paid respect to the United States military last Thursday with a Veterans Day remembrance at the university campus flagpole.

The celebration began at 1 p.m., with participants surrounding the flagpole. Small hand-held American flagpoles were given to those who attended the event. University faculty, staff, and students made up the majority of the crowd.

DeWayne Frazier, the university provost, began the ceremony introducing the events speaker, followed by a prayer for those who have served.

The university choir, also performed the Star-Spangle Banner to begin the event.

Frazier said that the celebration is for those that have served our country, and it’s a day where everyone can come together.

“For us it takes a special meaning every year, especially for the town of Mt. Pleasant that was so instrumental in the early time with Fort Harlan and the Civil War,” Frazier said. “There were student’s on this campus that left for war, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Persian Gulf Conflict. It’s important because there’s always a bigger picture in life and that bigger picture is being able to put your country above our petty differences. Veterans Day is a time we can all come and celebrate because it doesn't matter where we come from, where we were born, how poor, how rich, we’re all the same in a fox hole or a trench defending our country and caring about those freedoms.”

Following the introductions, guest speaker, Iowa National Guard Recruiter Cody Vantiger spoke about his time in the service and what made him decide to join.

Vantiger said that he’s proud to represent the service, but acknowledged that he’s one of the lucky ones that get to come home.

“Just to come out here and represent,” Vantiger said. “I get the luxury to go home very night and that’s the awesome opportunity that the service give me. To represent all those that don’t get to come home is the way I look at it. We get to honor them. I’m someone that can and not a lot of people get the opportunity to do that. That’s the way I look at this day. I had a grandpa that served in World War II. That’s the reason I joined, hearing his stories. Being able to honor him and the people that came before that’s what it’s about.”

The service ended with a prayer from Frazier and a performance by both the choir and brass second of the band.

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