CLARION Pa. (EYT) – The sidewalk outside the Liberty House Restaurant was lined with small American flags as veterans arrived for the complimentary Veterans Day Chicken Dinner on Monday.
According to Bobby Lawrence, President of the Spc. Ross A McGinnis VFW Post 2145 auxiliary, they served between 35 and 40 veterans, and their guests, in the first hour.
“It’s just our way to give back for their service,” Lawrence told exploreClarion.com.
“We did a meal last year, but it was in the evening, and we thought the timing wasn’t really good. So, this year we moved it to 11 to 3, and I think it’s worked out well.”
“It’s great,” U.S. Navy veteran and VFW board member Bob Clark said.
Bob Clark
Clark said he stopped in at the Liberty House to enjoy lunch before attending the Keystone Elementary Veteran’s Day Presentation later in the afternoon.
“The school programs are outstanding,” he noted.
“I can only speak for Keystone High School and Keystone Elementary, but they put a lot of effort into it, and it’s really inspiring. They reserve seats for any veteran to come in and they recognize them. They play a medley of all the service songs, and as they play your service, you stand up and people applaud. It’s very nice.”
Clark wasn’t the only veteran in attendance stopping for lunch between events. Joe Brinkley, a United States Army veteran of the Vietnam War and VFW board member, was coming from the Veteran’s Day program at Clarion Elementary and hoping to go on to another program at North Clarion.
Joe Brinkley
“I think it’s a great thing,” Brinkley said.
Clark noted that the Spc. Ross A McGinnis VFW Post 2145 tries to support programs at North Clarion, as well as Clarion Area since there isn’t another post in the North Clarion region.
“We have a wreath that we purchase and take up there because they have a memorial, and they do a very nice program,” Clark said.
He also enjoyed the earlier program at Clarion Elementary.
While Clark said he is glad to see area schools supporting veterans and promoting an understanding of what it means to be a veteran, he also noted that he’d like to see more emphasis on some of the scholarship programs the VFW offers, including the Voice of Democracy program and the Patriot’s Pen program.
“We give away two scholarships here, one for the Voice of Democracy and one for the Patriot’s Pen,” he noted.
Each year, the VFW’s Patriot’s Pen youth essay contest offers students in grades 6-8 a chance to win a share of more than $900,000.00 in state and national awards, while the Voice of Democracy audio-essay program provides high school students a chance to win a share of more than $1.9 million in educational scholarships and incentives with essays based on patriotic themes.
“It gets them thinking about what a veteran has done,” Clark said.
“Everyone is preaching to them about this, but you don’t want to preach to them, you want to let them do their own research and find things out. And, then they’re eligible for a scholarship, too. If they go on to states, depending on their essays, they can make some nice scholarship money for their education.”
According to Clark, while all of the tributes to veterans on Veterans Day are appreciated, getting young people involved and thinking about what being a veteran really means is the kind of tribute that really stands out.
