American Legion to hold Veterans’ event at WHS

by Philip A. Janquart
 Weiser Elks Lodge No. 1683 is holding a veteran’s lunch on Thursday, Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day. All are welcome to attend.
 Lodge doors open at noon. There will be a ceremony, with a ham lunch to follow. Veterans eat for free, non-veterans paying $5 per person.
 Elks Exalted Ruler Ken Salzsieder said the event is held every year to honor local vets and to provide a few hours where friends and family can come together.
 “It’s put on by Pat Moore and some of her friends,” he said of the meal. “She is a long-time member and they’ve been doing it for years, and always do a really great job. The program starts at 12:30 p.m. Our chaplain will lead us in a prayer and offer some words about our veterans.”
 Lunch will be served directly thereafter. 
 Also taking place on Nov. 11 is a ceremony to be held at the Weiser High School gymnasium. The event, organized by Weiser resident and American Legion member Charles Marvin, is scheduled for 11 a.m. All are welcome. The national anthem will be followed by the military Taps bugle call, to be performed by John Hoff, and a reading about the 100th year anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
 On Nov. 11, 1921, the body of an unknown World War I serviceman that had been exhumed from an American cemetery in France was placed inside the tomb. Two other unknown soldiers were interred at the site in 1958 and 1984.
 It has since served as the heart of Arlington National Cemetery where many of the country’s fallen soldiers have been interred. 
 You can read the full history at https://www.army.mil/tomb/.
 “In December 1920, New York Congressman and World War I veteran Hamilton Fish Jr. proposed legislation that provided for the interment of one unknown American soldier at a special tomb to be built in Arlington National Cemetery. The purpose of the legislation was ‘to bring home the body of an unknown American warrior who in himself represents no section, creed, or race in the late war and who typifies, moreover, the soul of America and the supreme sacrifice of her heroic dead,’” according to www.arlingtoncemetery.mil.
 The resulting neoclassical, white marble sarcophagus has stood atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. since 1921, serving as a daily opportunity for politicians and citizenry alike to remember those who have fallen in the line of duty, protecting the Constitution.

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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