Mantua Township and its VFW will host a Veterans Day Ceremony on the holiday in front of the township municipal building on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m.
The event is meant to raise awareness of the sacrifices made by veterans past and present. The ceremony will take place within a circle dedicated to vets.
“I like it (the ceremony), it’s necessary,” said Joe Heitman, chairman of the Mantua Veteran’s Commission. “It’s important that we recognize our veterans, especially the young ones, who are returning home for the first time.
“It’s also important to expose our students to veterans, especially if they might be interested in serving themselves one day.”
Members of the VFW are expected to attend in their uniforms, along with a color guard. A veteran will make a speech to open the ceremony and Air Force Master Sgt. Louise Bazelak will discuss her time as a veteran and what made her join the military.
The ceremony will also honor and recognize Mantua’s Cheryl Tunstall, an Air Force veteran who is a teacher at J. Mason Tomlin Elementary School and who organizes her own Veterans Day ceremony at the school every year.
“She’s an Air Force veteran who organizes a Veterans Day service every year,” said Heitman. “It includes a set of speakers who then have lunch with the kids.”
A student choir from Tomlin will sing two patriotic songs at the event and a representative from Clearview Regional High School’s choir is also expected to perform the national anthem to open the ceremony.
The Mantua Veterans Commission will also announce the winners of the school district’s patriotic poster contest, for which students made poster themed around the following question: “What is a veteran?”
Hundreds of students, according to Heitman, send in submissions every year. Winners – two from each age group – get a set of minted proof coins.
