Veterans Day program features Maeder

By VICKI TILLIS

Ledger news editor

The annual Veterans Day program, dinner and flying of the Avenue of Flags will mark the observance honoring past and present military personnel Wednesday.

The Veterans Day program, sponsored by American Legion Post 47, in cooperation with the Fairfield High School staff and students, will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the FHS Auditorium.

Dave Pech, one of the program organizers, recommended those attending be seated before the high school students enter the auditorium at 10:15 a.m. The front six rows of seats will be reserved for the public, and the first and second rows on the west side will be reserved for veterans and color guard members. Parking spots will be reserved both in front of and to the west of the school.

Maj. Dan Maeder, executive officer of the 24th Engineer Battalion of the Iowa Army National Guard, will be this year?s guest speaker.

The program also will include a presentation by FHS students Derek Byrnes and Alex Rebling, who were the 2009 Boys State representatives sponsored by the local American Legion.

Music for the ceremony will be provided by Fairfield vocalist Jan Hunerdosse singing ?The Star-Spangled Banner? and ?God Bless America,? and the FHS Chamber Choir, conducted by Zach Reiter, performing patriotic music.

The FHS band, directed by Jim Edgeton, will provide musical accompaniments.

Retired 1st. Sgt. Don Samuelson will be master of ceremonies, giving the welcome, as well as the closing remarks, and leading the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Rev. Phil Barker, interim pastor of First Lutheran Church, will give the invocation and benediction.

Years ago, Fairfield schools would dismiss early on what was then called Armistice Day, and teachers would parade their students to Central Park to watch the ceremony at 11 a.m. ? the hour symbolically recognized as the time of the signing of the armistice ending World War I.

After students were no longer dismissed for the observance and inclement weather often kept others away from a ceremony in the park, the American Legion, in 1998, asked then-FHS principal Ralph Messerli if the ceremony could be held in the FHS Auditorium.

Messerli agreed to let the group use the auditorium and also decided to have the high school students attend and participate in the program.

Because the 34th Army Band members are too geographically scattered to interrupt their work schedules to perform at the observance on weekdays, the FHS Band takes its place.

Avenue of Flags to fly

In addition to the program at the high school, the Avenue of Flags is scheduled to be flying in Central Park Wednesday, weather permitting.

Volunteers are needed to help post the 527 flags at 7 a.m. and retire them at 3 p.m., said George Aplara of the VFW.

Volunteers who meet at the VFW between 6-7 a.m. will be served a free biscuts-and- gravy breakfast, said Aplara.

A list of more than 700 military personnel the flags fly in memory of will be published in The Ledger Tuesday.

Families and friends of deceased military veterans pay a one-time fee of $45 toward maintenance and replacement of the flags. When the Avenue of Flags program began, each veteran was commemorated with the purchase of a single flag with his or her nameplate. When space for flags in and bordering Central Park was exhausted, names continued to be added for the listing printed in The Ledger. The charge continues so flags can be replaced.

For information about placing a name of a veteran on the listing, contact the VFW at 472-9282.

Veterans invited to dinner

Also scheduled Wednesday is the annual Veterans Day dinner at 5 p.m. at the VFW.

All military veterans, VFW, AMVETS and American Legion members and their families and guests are invited to the dinner.

Those attending are asked to bring a covered dish to share and their own table service.

For the complete article, see the Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.