The crowd of more than 900 people included our own local elected officials: Councilwoman Katrina Foley and Mayor Allan Mansoor. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was also present.
The event is reportedly the largest such school-sponsored Veterans Day event in the county. The students, one grade at a time, came on stage to sing a patriotic song to the military veterans who were present.
Watching a class of second-graders finish their song with a salute and thank you to the retired veterans brought a sense of pride and appreciation, to say the least.
The special keynote speaker was retired Air Force Col. Kenneth Hughey. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Hughey piloted 564 missions. One hundred and six of those missions were over North Vietnam.
On July 6, 1967, he was shot down and spent the next five and half years as a prisoner of war. His treatment was so bad that if he had the means, he said he would have taken his own life instead of enduring the daily beatings and torture.
He told the audience of parents, veterans and students how he managed to get though those years of torture. One of the two things he did every day before he slept was to stand, face east and recite the Pledge of Allegiance — the other was to recite the 23rd Psalm.
If there ever were a teachable moment, this was it. God, family and country.
The culmination of the event was the singing by St. John’s award-winning Clover Choir headed up by Musical Director Yvette Itano. Their closing song was the military tribute “Homeward Bound” song in a cappella style. After the song, the fifth-graders walked into the audience and handed a single carnation to every veteran. If there was a dry eye in the house I could not see it through my blurred vision.
