Brockway Elementary School Honors Veterans

BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT) – One hundred three area veterans were honored by the students at Brockway Area Elementary School’s annual Veterans’ Day event.

(PICTURED ABOVE: Bill Sabatose (center) of the American Legion presents a flag to teacher Bert Ginther (right). The Legion gives Brockway Elementary a new flag every year.)

The events included breakfast as well as music and performances by the students. The school invited the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7252, American Legion Post 95, the American Legion Auxiliary, The Military Order of the Purple Heart, The Humanitarian Riders, Vietnam Veterans of America Bucktail Chapter, and Jack Tully, the western vice commander of the American Legion.

103 veterans attending the Veterans Day event at Brockway Elementary School.

The annual event takes a lot of preparation.

“We begin preparing at the beginning of October,” elementary teacher Bert Ginther said. “We cover all the wars from World War II up to current conflicts. We also watch Medal of Honor videos, and the interviews with our Gold Star Mothers. This year, the Vietnam Veterans of America came in to talk with all the sixth grade students.”

The sixth graders sang songs from World War II and music teacher Chrissy Myers led the students in songs like “God Bless The USA.”

The American Legion gives the school a new flag every year. This year, the Legion gave the school a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag. The ceremony ends solemnly as names of area veterans who have passed away in the last year are read and “Taps” is played.

The sixth graders are spending their last year at Brockway Elementary School. Next year, they will take part in the high school’s schoolwide Veterans Day event.

“Veterans Day is important because the students need to realize the price that was paid for the life we have today,” Ginther said.

“They also need to realize that when the veterans served, they were not much older than our students are right now.”

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