Teaching Patriotism...

Hayden called Claude. Claude was in Paducah, Kentucky with the Kentucky League of Cities. When he saw the message he called Hayden right back. Hayden is now attending Oldham County Middle School. Each year they have a tradition of honoring veterans on or near Veteran's Day. The kids are all asked to invite a veteran from their family. Hayden knew his Grampa served in the Air Force and that was the purpose of his call, to invite Grampa to attend this thank you to veterans. Claude canceled some things and told Hayden he would be there.

Thursday, November 10th, the day prior to the actual Veteran's Day observance across the country, Claude and I left home early again to be at Oldham County Middle School before 9am. This would turn out to be the most memorable Veteran's Day we have experienced in all our years of marriage.

There were tables set up for the Veteran's to sign in. There were patriotic badges or pendants the kids made for each veteran to choose one of their choice to wear. There was even a tree decorated in red, white and blue.

We were guided to the Library where the Veteran's would be oriented as to how the day would proceed and to whom they could direct their questions.

After orientation, all the veteran's spouses were first guided to the gym for the assembly. We walked past the flag of the United State and the flags of each branch of the military.

The gym also had wonderful decorations. This flag banner was made by the Art Teacher and her classes. The white strips have the words to the Star Spangled Banner and the red stripes are actually pictures of Veterans with had a red color emphasis. Very, very clever and appropriate.

These streamers represent the wars fought by the United States over the years. The ones in blue have no living Veterans. The white ones still have Veterans living. One Veteran next to me said, "So, this means I just have two more rows to go before I turn blue!!" We shared a chuckle.

This is Hayden's class entering the gym for the assembly. Hayden is in the middle waving at me.

The 8th Grade Band of OCMS played music for us as everyone entered.

The first of the Veteran's to enter couldn't actually enter. They began with the POW flag to remember all those Prisoner of War and Missing in Action military. Good way to begin and excellent to remember these Veterans.

The Veterans had been in the Library waiting for their time to enter. They had been sorted into groups as to the branch of the military in which they served. They would enter the gym to a recording of their branch of the military theme song. This picture is of the Air Force entering. Claude is in the rust colored shirt on the right.

After all branches of military service entered, their colors were posted at the front of the gym.

Then the 8th and 7th Grade Choirs sang the Star Spangled Banner, our National Anthem.

Hayden was able to sneak down from his class and give Claude a hug. I was sitting with the wives and left them to get this great picture of my boys.

This is the first of the Mr. Griffin's we would meet. He was the key note speaker. He served in the Coast Guard, is a leader of the VFW's post, and also has served as a leader in the LaGrange community for many, many years. Very will respected man and a great choice for keynote speaker.

He brought this original poster from World War II requesting everyone purchase War Bonds. The actual poster is in the frame on the right and the picture is so everyone can see it from their seats.

A special recognition was given to the 2nd Master Sargent Howard Griffin. He was surprised by this. He served in World War II, the Korean War and the Viet Nam War. There are sure a lot of ribbons on his chest. He gave a few brief remarks for the kids.

After the program, we got a 'thumbs up' from Hayden.

Claude graciously and cheerfully accepted my request to get a picture of him by the Air Force logo.

The Veteran's were divided into two groups. One group was guided back to the library where they were fed a catered lunch by Chick Fil-A. The other group stayed in the gym. Through out the next hour and a half the kids would come through the gym after having their lunch and shake hands and thank the Veterans. Having the Veteran's in two groups allowed the first group to eat while have the second group remained to shake hands, then the second group of Veterans went to lunch while the first group came back to the gym and shook hands. I stayed with Claude until he went to lunch and then I waited for Hayden's class to come to the cafeteria. I would visit with Hayden while he had his lunch. Here are a few of my favorites of the kids thanking the Veterans for their service. This was just the best part. These men who have served or are now serving were just happy as these kids thanked them. It was truly a great moment.

Claude went to lunch and after Hayden finished eating we went to the gym so he could have his turn to thank the Veterans. They cheerfully paused so this Gramma could get a good picture of our young man. They struck up a conversation and Hayden amazed them with his articulateness. It is always amusing to watch this interaction. Again, this was a tender moment.

Claude came back from his lunch and Hayden was able to stay with him and then march in the parade with Claude. There is also a picture of the close-up of Claude's medal the kids made. Each Veteran gets a poster with their last name on it. The family member walking with them in the parade carries the poster. We knew Buckner Elementary would be out watching the parade, so I left my boys and walked over to Buckner Elementary to find Bailey.

As I got to Buckner Elementary School, the first and only group out at that time was a Church Day Care group. They were sitting on the curb talking to the OCMS band teacher and singing him songs. Cute. Then the elementary kids started to pour out of the doors with their classes. I saw Ms. Pitcock's (Bailey's teacher) head first over the kids and knew Bailey would be in that group. Sure enough, she saw me and came running for her hug. Love that. Absolutely love that. Hope they never grow out of that. Her class found a place on the curb. Bailey turned to me pretty quick and asked for my sunglasses. I gave her a my favorite pair. Her friend said, "Do you have any more? The sun is in my eyes too." Well, I happen to carry a spare and fished them out for her. Here is Bailey in the cat ears with her friend sporting Gramma's sunglasses.

The parade begins just as the march into the gym did with recognition for POW's and MIA's. They quietly walk this banner down the street. When they get to the end of the street, the OCMS band teacher plays taps on his trumpet. Very moving experience.

Then the rest of the parade can begin. There was a police escort, the fire truck drove past, the Chick Fil-A cow even marched and Bailey and her friends where cheering at the top of their voices, "Eat more chicken! Eat more chicken!" That girl is totally uninhibited. The banners and logos marched in front of their military branches. This is where I messed up. I took video of the entire parade. I can capture a shot as I take the video. I did that at the beginning of the parade, hence these pictures. However, when Hayden and Claude came I was busy cheering and videoing and watching Bailey interact with them and forgot from that point forward to press the 'capture a picture while videoing' feature on my camera. Silly Moi! Now I really need to find a way to take a picture out of the video.

Oldham County High School, Oldham County Middle School and Buckner Elementary are all right there together. The kids marched from the front of the Middle School around the outside of the Elementary School and along the back of the High School back to the Middle School. We were done after Hayden and Claude reached me back at the Middle School. We set up that we would pick up Hayden at 3:40 and then go pick up Bailey from her Volleyball Club meeting. Then we would have time with the Mini's to observe Hayden's birthday which had occurred the previous Sunday.

This was just a marvelous celebration of Veteran's and Patriotism. These are the words Claude posted on Facebook regarding this events:

"I had the BEST DAY EVER yesterday. Hayden, my grandson invited me to his school, Oldham County Middle School, to participate in a remarkable and moving day long program honoring veterans. Music, speeches, letters from the students, lots of red white and blue, music, and even a parade of the veterans attending with their "student." It gives me hope. I think we're going to be OK here folks."

As we see it, Hayden has two more years of Middle School, Bailey will be there for his last year then she has two more years of middle school. That gives us four more years to attend this celebration. We will cheerfully do that and greatly appreciate all the effort taken to teach these young people to honor those who served so they could remain free and to honor this great country. Happy Veteran's Day!!