By DELANIA TRIGG, Register Staff Writer
Looking for a way to show appreciation for America’s veterans while having fun with friends and family?
Leonard Park is a good place to be when the city Parks & Recreation Department sponsors its annual Veteran’s Day Celebration at the Cooke County Veterans War Memorial in Leonard Park Wednesday.
The program is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. and will feature a large fireworks display, VFW color guard, patriotic music and a fly over by the Ghost Squadron of the Commemorative Air Force weather permitting.
Singer Lori Hart will open with the National Anthem.
The Gainesville Junior High and High School choirs will perform under the direction of Susan and Kevin Beall. The public is invited to attend.
The local VFW Post No.1922 is hosting a free barbecue meal in the Leonard Park Pavilion following the program.
This year’s guest speaker is Gary Alexander.
A Marine and a veteran of the Vietnam War, Alexander is also a former journalist and photographer, editor and media relations’ director in Colorado. He has presented lectures, workshops, and debriefings for schools, colleges, state and local governments, civic groups, law enforcement agencies, crime victim assistance groups and veterans gatherings.
Alexander made Gainesville his home in 2006. He has been the historian and a member of the executive board of the Medal of Honor Host City program in Gainesville since his move in 2006.
In August 2009 he was the featured speaker at the State of Texas Daughters of the American Revolution convention held in Dallas.
During last year’s Veteran’s Day celebration, Gainesville Mayor Glenn Loch remarked that Veteran’s Day ceremonies are important because they give all citizens the chance to consider the sacrifices made by American soldiers.
“We’ve had wars about every 20 years, it seems,” Loch said during his address.
He said Veteran’s Day is more than a day off work and a time for celebrations.
Veteran’s Day also marks an important event in history.
November 11 was first declared a national holiday in many allied nations to commemorate those members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I.
Many counties called the holiday Armistice Day.
After World War II, the name of the holiday was changed to Veterans Day in the United States and to Remembrance Day in countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Armistice Day remains an official holiday in France. It is also an official holiday in Belgium, known also as the Day of Peace in the Flanders Fields.
In many parts of the world people take a two minute moment of silence at 11 a.m. as a sign of respect for the roughly 20 million who died in the war.
The 100th anniversary of Armistice Day will be in 2018.
