Perdue Elementary holds Veterans Day program

A rainy Thursday morning didn’t stop the crowds from coming to David Perdue Elementary School for a Veterans Day ceremony.

Principal Andy Paine, Ph.D., welcomed the crowd of more than 150 people, saying it was the largest attendance for the school’s Veterans Day program he has ever seen.

“I have the utmost respect for the military,” Paine said. “My dad was in Vietnam, and 40 years later, he only spoke about it on one day, just once.”

After a short welcome, Houston County High School ROTC did the Presentation of Colors, the elementary school’s chorus sang the National Anthem, and then the crowd was led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

After a moment of silence for all POWs and MIAs, Paine introduced Rolling Thunder members in attendance.

During the ceremony, Paine recognized each branch of the Armed Services individually and asked members from each to stand. No one from the Coast Guard was at the ceremony, but each other branch had a member there.

Paine then thanked and recognized members of the BOE that were in attendance, giving special recognition to Dave Crockett, who he said has been at the last four of the Veterans Day ceremonies the school has held.

Several of the students at the school have family members that are military, and many of them have a parent currently deployed.

Paine recognized those students whose parents are deployed.

He asked for members of the audience to stand if they have served in combat, going backward through each decade. Paine said his grandfather served in World War II and is still alive; however, no one in the audience Thursday had served in the Korean War or World War II.

“I love it that you’re here so we can say thank you for what you do,” Paine said after recognizing veterans.

The dance team entertained members of the audience, and then the chorus sang a song. Paine said he believe David Perdue Elementary has the largest chorus in Houston County at 80 to 100 members, and also said he believes the school’s chorus also sounds the best.

The next speakers were 28 students, one from each homeroom. Each child said what veterans or America mean to them. Several wrote poems, and even one was in tears expressing his love for all of the veterans who serve their country. Many of them also said that they have a parent who is in the military and expressed a desire to join themselves when they become of age.

Paine then introduced the special guest speaker, BOE chairman Fred Wilson.

Wilson told the audience that he grew up in Alabama on a cotton farm with his grandparents in the 1940s and 1950s.

“I saw airplanes fly across and said ‘I want to fly those,’” Wilson said. “When I got to high school, we were supposed to write down the careers we wanted, and I said I want to be a pilot.”

Wilson said that even from a young age he knew what he wanted to do even if he didn’t know how to pursue it. When he graduated from high school in 1963, he flunked the test to become a veteran. But he said he kept working and eventually joined in 1964.

Wilson served in the military honorably for many years, and he said his proudest day was his retirement because his younger brother, who is now retired himself, is the person to give Wilson his pin and discharge papers.

“You are the reason I can continue to be proud of America and to be in the red, white and blue,” Wilson told the veterans in attendance. “I have one favorite color, and that’s red, white and blue. My favorite color is the flag of the United States. The flag is one color because we are all Americans.”

Paine addressed the crowd once more before introducing a video montage.

“This country was founded on sacrifice and service,” he said. “To those doing it back then (when the country was founded) to those doing it now, thank you.”

The video montage can be seen on Youtube if a person does a search for “Veterans Day Nora Jones.” The crowd was then dismissed, and parents were able to visit their children’s classrooms where they were again honored and thanked for their service to America and its citizens.

HHJ News