T-R FILE PHOTO In 2018, Iowa Veterans Home Chaplain Rev. Angela Doty gives an invocation at Veterans Day services at IVH. To her near right is IVH Commandant Timon Oujiri. To her far right is 2018 program keynote speaker Brig. Gen. Shawn Ford.

Veterans Day will be celebrated a little differently at the Iowa Veterans Home this year.

The annual celebration ceremony has been pre-recorded and will air on closed circuit television in the Iowa Veterans Home on Wednesday. Residents will have the ceremony broadcasted in their rooms and staff will be able to watch throughout the facility. The program is not open to the public.

The ceremony is highlighted this year by a keynote speech from Major General Timothy E. Orr. His speech was recorded from the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. Orr is the former adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard and Iowa’s Director of Public Defense.

IVH Commandant Timon Oujiri said preparation for the virtual Veterans Day program started about a month ago.

He said it is important to find a way to celebrate veterans, even with the hurdles surrounding COVID-19.

“Since 1972 everybody that has served is volunteer force. Everyone raised their right hand and said, ‘I will defend the United States against threats foreign and domestic,'” Oujiri said. “On Veterans Day we set apart time to give them special recognition — living and deceased veterans.”

Less than 1 percent of the U.S. population are veterans, according to Oujiri. 

“Being a veteran is a title you can’t buy. Every veteran has earned that title,” he said. “Thank all the veterans that have served and gone before us. My uncle used to state that for those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected have never known.”

The American Legion Post 46 Golf Course and Lounge had plans for Veterans Day activities but canceled due to a rise in COVID-19 infections in Marshall County. The lounge is reducing its hours as well.

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