After a one-year pandemic interruption, groups of school children returned to the annual Veterans Day commemoration in Red Bank Thursday.
With poems, songs and handmade ‘thank you’ cards for veterans, students from St. James School, the Red Bank Charter School and Red Bank Middle School participated in the event, held at the Veterans Monument on Monmouth Street – alongside the onetime borough hall.
Check out redbankgreen’s event photos below.
Red Bank Middle School student Aisha Jones, above, and Second Deputy Fire Chief Nick Ferraro were among the participants in the borough’s annual Veterans Day commemoration Wednesday.
Like many other events since March, it was a masked-up gathering because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Knollwood School students line the hallway to welcome special Veterans Day honorees. Ray Taylor, World War II veteran, stops to say thank you. (Fair Haven Public Schools)
(Fair Haven schools press release)
Current students were not enrolled when Knollwood School in Fair Havenb established the Wall of Honor as a way to recognize alumni who joined the Armed Forces. None were alive when the Gulf War broke out. Few students know the origin of the common peace sign, understand the war-related significance of poppies, or deeply appreciate the way “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” evolved to become Veterans Day.
Scouts saluted the American flag and Red Bank Charter School students sang ‘America the Beautiful’ at a lightly attended gathering to observe Veterans Day in Red Bank Monday.
Guy Opie, Exalted Ruler of Elks Lodge 233, defined a veteran as “someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check to the United States of America, for an amount up to and including their life.” And Rabbi Marc Kline, of the Monmouth Reformed Temple, told the audience that the best way to honor those who have served is to work to prevent future wars. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Pilgrim Baptist Church of Red Bank recently hosted two special services — including the annual Pink-Out Praise and Worship (above), coordinated by the Nurse’s and Health & Wellness Ministries of PBC in recognition of individuals who are survivors of breast cancer, and dedicated to the early detection and treatment of all forms of cancer. Last week saw the annual Veteran’s Day service (below), with the Pilgrim congregation’s member veterans recognized for their service and sacrifice for our nation’s freedoms and liberties. (photos by Milagros Jeter)
World War II veteran Ray Taylor listens as Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli speaks at the borough’s annual Veterans Day celebration at Victory Park Sunday. Taylor, 90, also took a turn in front of the park’s doughboy statue, telling several dozen onlookers, “I’m glad to see so many of you here, mindful of what these boys gave.” (Click to enlarge)
At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, Red Bank schoolchildren, elected officials and civic groups gathered at Red Bank’s war memorial on Monmouth Street to pay honor to American war veterans. Among the participants were members of the Red Bank Regional High School Choir, right. (Click to enlarge)
U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Reginald Richardson, left, salutes the flag at Fair Haven’s Veteran’s Day ceremony. Richardson, who’s stationed at Fort Monmouth, was the ceremony’s keynote speaker on Wednesday. (Photos by Dustin Racioppi)
There’s more than one way to give thanks to a military veteran, says U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Reginald Richardson.
The obvious one is simply to say, “Thank you.” But if you truly appreciate the freedom that servicemen and servicewomen afford you, then you have to show it in your everyday life, says Richardson, the keynote speaker at Fair Haven’s Veteran’s Day ceremony.