PA audience told to remember veterans and their stories

PORT ANGELES — More than 800 people gathered Monday to remember veterans of the nation’s wars during the North Olympic Peninsula’s Veterans Day observance at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station on Ediz Hook.

The ceremony was marked by performances by a Marine Corps drill team, patriotic songs sung by the Strait Men’s Chorus and Sweet Adelines and a speech by Coast Guard Rear Adm. Erroll Brown.

But it was a simple song lauding veterans that brought many in the audience to tears.

It was written by Joe Dziak of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1024 in Port Angeles.

“So let’s sing ‘God Bless America’ for the veterans on this special day,” Dziak sang, strumming a guitar.

“Some came back in boxes. Some we still can’t find.

“. . . Never forget the sacrifices that were made . . .”

‘It’s about veterans’

“This day is not about me, it’s about veterans,” said Brown, commander of the 13th Coast Guard District, which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

He noted that Veterans Day began as Armistice Day to mark the end of World War I.

“We are here not just to celebrate the end of World War I, but also every veteran’s story,” he said.

Brown called veterans America’s guardians, sentinels and protectors.

If you listen to their stories closely, they are not all that different, he said.

“For them, it’s about doing their duty,” Brown said.

—————–

The rest of the story appears in the Tuesday Peninsula Daily News. Click on SUBSCRIBE to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

More in News

Denise Thornton of Sequim deadheads roses on a flower display at the Sequim Botanical Garden at the Water Reuse Demonstration Park at Carrie Blake Park on Wednesday in Sequim. Thornton, a volunteer gardener, was taking part in a work party to maintain the beauty of the garden. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Rose display

Denise Thornton of Sequim deadheads roses on a flower display at the… Continue reading

Electric rates see big increase

Jefferson proposal approved for 4-year hike

Clallam Transit to receive $4M in grants

Agency to use funds on Strait Shot and other routes

Port Angeles council OKs sidewalk near park

Applicants to receive grant funding for one-third of total cost

Peninsula College to continue without budget

Board expects plan in September

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane Ridge on Monday. These tourists from Alaska stopped and photographed the creature from a distance as he slowly ate his meal of wildflowers. The marmot is a rodent in the squirrel family and is unique to Washington state. The hibernating mammal’s burrow is only about 50 feet up the paved path away from the parking lot. The group had just photographed deer at the Ridge. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Olympic marmot

An Olympic marmot stands as the star of the show at Hurricane… Continue reading

Eighth-graders Saydey Cronin and Madelyn Bower stand by a gazebo they and 58 other students helped to build through their Sequim Middle School Core Plus Instruction industrial arts class. The friends were two of a handful of girls to participate in the building classes. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Middle school students build gazebo for academy

Businesses support project with supplies, flooring and tools

Frank Nicholson and David Martel.
Veterans in Warrior Bike program to pass through Peninsula towns

Community asked to welcome, provide lodging this summer

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County Sheriff Brian King, right, accompanied by Lt. Jim Thompson of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Police on a leg of the Law Enforcement Torch Run on the Olympic Discovery Trail at Port Angeles City Pier. Tuesday’s segment of the run, conducted mostly by area law enforcement agencies, was organized to support Special Olympics Washington and was to culminate with a community celebration at 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Carrying the torch

Special Olympian Deni Isett, center, holds a ceremonial torch with Clallam County… Continue reading

Hopefuls for Olympic Medical Center board debate

Talk focuses on funds, partnership

An encapsulated engineered coupler used to repair a January leak. The leak occurred along a similar welded joint near to the current leak. (City of Port Townsend)
Port Townsend considers emergency repair for pipeline

Temporary fix needs longer-term solution, officials say

Traffic to be stopped for new bridge girders

Work crews for the state Department of Transportation will unload… Continue reading