Middle School Principal Dirk Borgman said that the idea for the program came as a suggestion from bus driver John Perkins 19 years ago. He said the first program started small, but has built into a program attended by a large number of veterans and families every year.

“And we are looking forward to our 20th annual program on Nov. 11, 2019,” Borgman said.

Cameron Bergman and McKenna Cross were the Mistresses of Ceremonies for the day. Sgt. David Schmidt handled the color guard for the entrances of the service flags and the posting of the colors. The Star Spangled Banner was performed by the seventh and eighth grade band. Aniastyn Borsh-Rash and Amber Parks led those in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The fifth and sixth grade chorus under the direction of Michale Jahn and Dee Seeman, accompanied by Jami Willett, sang “Thank You, Soldiers.” This was followed by the recognition of all of the veterans in attendance – each receiving a small American flag from one of the students. The band played each branch service song before the introductions. 

Seventh and eighth grade poetry contest winners presented their poems. They were “Freedom” by Audrey Roan; “Hero” by Nate Darden; “Veterans Everyday” by Caleb baker and “thank You” by Brooklyn Kail.

The 7th and 8th grade chorus presented a number, “Blowin’ in the Wind/America “directed by Michael Jahn and accompanied by Jami Willett.

Speaker for the afternoon was Specialist Robert Shepherd, who gave his timeline history of service in the Marine Corps and Army National Guard. He also showed slides of his military service.

Shepherd said he spent four years as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, and 16 years of service to the National Guard. His 13-week boot camp began in 1985 in California followed by machine gun training at infantry school in North Carolina. He then went to a marine barracks/naval air station in Brunswick, Maine for a year and four months.

After that he was at camp Lejeune, North Carolina, training as a machine gunner before being deployed to Okinawa, Japan. From there he went to the Philippines for jungle survival training. In 1988 he went on to Mount Fuji, Japan for cold weather training.

“We then trained with the Japanese 20th regiment where we did cold weather training in snow and cold weather environments,” Shepherd said. “Then back in the states we did our training at the mountain training center in Bridgeport, Cailfornia. I received my honorable discharge form the Marines in 1990, but I was a little bit bored so I decided I wanted to join the National Guard for the camaraderie and such again.”

Shepherd said he joined the 1136 Transportation Company where he was a truck driver, and went to Canada and put on a chicken feed for the guard in Quebec. Next it was off to Guatemala in 1993 – training with the Guatemalan army. 

He moved to Nebraska in 1994 and joined the Nebraska Army National Guard and trained in Colorado. From there kit was off to Ft Chaffee, Ark. Going back to Maine, he transferred to the 133rd Regiment where his unit did a lot of building roads and he was a dump truck driver.

In 2004, the unit was activated and went to Kuwait, then on to Iraq where they were deployed to Mosul. They did a lot of base fortification at Camp Marez and also a lot of guard duty.

“We had to create armor for our vehicles after getting there,” Shepherd said. “Nothing had armored protection when we arrived.”

Feb. 2005, homecoming took place in Maine. He was awarded a purple heart for a mortar attack in which he was hit by shrapnel but not injured severely. He achieved the Army achievement medal and was honored for 20 years of service to his country.

The band closed by playing “In Prospect”, and Sam Garber played “Taps” before the colors and service flags were retired. A reception for the honored veterans and their families followed in the school library.