Army veterans stood to be recognized during the song American Heroes performed by the high school band. Each branch of the military’s song was played and corresponding veterans stood to be recognized.
Darrell Frykman, a Navy Corpsman and father of First Grade Teacher Meagan Ferris, presented the Veterans Day message during the annual Veterans Day program at the Verndale School.
The Patriot Pen winners (from third place to first) were Jaden Schwanke, Rebecca Stanley and Abigail Ervasti.
Army veterans stood to be recognized during the song American Heroes performed by the high school band. Each branch of the military’s song was played and corresponding veterans stood to be recognized.
Thank you, veterans
SEND US A MESSAGE
by Trinity Gruenberg
The Verndale School held their annual Veterans Day program on November 8, honoring those who served this country.
Ruth Clark, with the Wadena VFW and Auxiliary, presented the winners of the Patriot’s Pen essay contest for the 7-8 grades. The theme was “Why I Honor the Flag.” Abigail Ervasti read her winning essay to the assembly.
The Voice of Democracy essay contest had several entries from the school. Hannah Hinman and Morgan Glenz read their essays on “Why My Vote Matters” to those in attendance.
Awards were also given to the elementary students in each grade for the “My Hero and Why” essay and poster contest.
Darrell Frykman, father to First Grade Teacher Meagan Ferris, gave this year’s Veterans Day message:
Veterans Day is set aside to honor veterans of the armed services, those that served and are currently serving today. I am a veteran because I enlisted in the Navy and served in Vietnam as a Navy Hospital Corpsman. As a Navy Corpsman, I was attached to the Marines, so I spent most of my service with them.
As a corpsman, my job was to stabilize the wounded and put them on choppers to be evacuated to medical facilities. When I performed those duties I never knew if the wounded survived or not. I always wondered what happened to those young men. Several years ago, my wife and I took a trip to the Vietnam Veterans Wall in Washington D.C. We were able to find five of their names on The Wall. Whenever the traveling wall is in the area, I like to spend some time there. When it was in Herman, I had the opportunity to help people find the names of loved ones and friends. I also found the name of another Marine I tended to. . . .