Tamaqua students thank veterans for their service

Their reading of poems and singing of songs was enough to make any veteran’s eyes well up.

Students at Tamaqua Elementary School wore their hearts on their sleeves during the Veterans Day Celebration 2017 Friday morning.

Assistant Principal Laura Shook thanked everyone who made the program possible, as well as the veterans, and told them the program was meant for them.

Throughout the program, students sang songs and read poems for veterans.

The first guest speaker was Spc. Justin Bailey.

“The uniform I’m wearing today is from one of the lodges I belong to, but I’m wearing it today for another reason,” Bailey said. “I’m wearing it because with this uniform, I’m also permitted to wear my military ribbons and awards on it, which is nice, because unfortunately, I put on a little weight since I got out of the Army about 10 years ago.”

Bailey graduated from Tamaqua in 2002. By that August, he said he went down to boot camp, and ended up in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, a soldier of the 101st Screaming Eagles.

“I was a computer/radio man assigned to an artillery unit, which is big cannons,” he said. “That next May, I was deployed to Iraq, where I turned 19 years old.”

While doing some work on antennas on top of a building, Bailey said he got injured, so when the 101st deployed the second time, he got out under an honorable medical discharge, after about 3½ years of service.

“A veteran is defined as anyone who served in the military,” he said. “It’s for anyone who took that oath, whether voluntarily or by draft, to protect this great nation.”

Bailey said everyone has heard of the National Football League’s issues with the American flag.

“I will tell you, I honor the flag, not only because it represents our nation, but because my grandfather fought for that same flag, and because I knew people that died protecting that same flag,” he said. “It is our flag, not mine, not yours. Ours, America’s.”

Third-grade teacher Jolene Barron asked each of the veterans to stand when their names were called, and later they were asked to stand when they heard the music for their respective branch of service.

The other guest speaker was Jack Kulp, from the Tamaqua American Legion.

Kulp said veterans put others first, and that Veterans Day is a day when we put veterans first.

“Veterans are everywhere; sometimes proudly wearing a service cap or military T-shirt,” Kulp said. “Other times quietly blending in the background.”

Kulp noted that the people in attendance are veterans, friends of veterans, family of veterans, co-workers of veterans and neighbors of veterans.

“It is up to us to ensure that every veteran feels that his or her service to this country is appreciated by their fellow Americans,” he said. “There are many tangible ways that we can acknowledge their sacrifice, but the easiest is to simply say, ‘Thank you for what you have done for our country.’ ”

The program concluded with a rendition of “America, the Beautiful.”

Barron said the school loves the program.

“It’s my most favorite day of the whole school year,” Barron said. “I absolutely love seeing all of our veterans who can be here, and having the opportunity to show them our appreciation for all they have done.”