North Habersham Celebrates Veterans Day, 2015

November 11, 2015

On Veterans Day, North Habersham Middle School celebrated three groups of heroes: military veterans who served America in the past; those in military service in the present; and those who will serve our country in the future.

The principal of the school, Mrs. Brent Tuck, welcomed a crowd that included students dressed in red, white, and blue, the school’s teachers, Board of Education members, school system administrators, and a group of veterans representing all five branches of America’s Armed Forces. As the school band played the military march for each of the branches, veterans from that branch stood at attention. The crowd applauded, as each group stood. In the Veterans Day ceremony to follow, they would hear of other ways to express their appreciation for veterans.

Ways to say “thank you”

Larry Whitfield spoke about the Habersham County Wall of Honor.

Larry Whitfield, a founder of the Veterans Wall of Honor in Habersham County, spoke to the crowd and said that the granite Wall, funded by donations, is now halfway complete. It contains the names of Habersham Countians in military service since the Revolutionary War. “Let’s not forget these people,” he said.

Linda Canup, a former teacher at North Habersham, told the crowd that she knows of a way that veterans who are still living can be shown appreciation for their service to this country. “Honor Flights” – also funded by donations – are trips to Washington, DC on commercial airline flights. Canup is a “travel guardian” for veterans who take Honor Flights, and she said that the airplane pilots regularly announce to people on an airplane flight that veterans are on board, on an Honor Then, she said, others on board the airplane speak “sincere, kind words of gratitude and appreciation” for the veteran’s service to this country.

Students Jaelyn Anderson, Bethany Frady, and Brannon Soltesz came to the microphone in the gym to tell about the Healing for Heroes program. Donations to Healing for Heroes pay the $3,900 cost to sponsor a dog, trained as a special companion for a veteran who is suffering from physical or emotional injury – such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. North Habersham supports Healing for Heroes, the students said. There is a donation collection bottle in the front office of the school. So far, students have raised $132.00 for Healing for Heroes.

Military guests speak

Representing those in military service in the past, sometimes Hal Chestnutt’s eyes were teary and his voice broke as he spoke to the crowd. A veteran himself, who has served in “top secret” military positions, Chestnutt said “Thank you, veterans,” for defending the Constitution that guarantees our freedoms, including freedom of speech. Retired from military service, Chestnutt now works as a paraprofessional at North Habersham. After describing his experiences working in high level military security positions, he said a prayer of thanks – thanks for the things veterans’ service allows us to enjoy in our country.

Major Jason Smith, representing those in military service now, is in the National Guard. He told the crowd that “it’s a very unstable world” that we live in and “we really appreciate veterans.” Major Smith has now served in the National Guard for 29 years. In his military uniform, he urged the students who were listening to the Veterans Day presentations to “glean as much information as you can.”

Adam Rivers, also in uniform, represented those in military service in the future. When he was a student at Liberty University, he”felt the Lord’s calling within me” to go into military service. His mother “said ‘no'” at the time, and told him to re-enter college at a military school, he said. She said that, after graduation from that school, he would have “a commission” – a position in military service. Rivers is about to graduate, and will be on “active duty in the U.S. Army in 8 months.”

“When I was in your place,” he told students in the gym, “I saw military people as heroes – warriors. They don’t think that about themselves,” he said. “They love their country, and love their freedom, but they are normal people,” he said. “They’re just willing to risk their lives.”