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4 | November 14, 2019 | The lake forest leader NEWS<br />
LakeForestLeaderDaily.com<br />
Posted to LakeForestLeaderDaily.com 3 days ago<br />
Students learn about Veterans Day from Navy veteran<br />
Peter Kaspari, Editor<br />
What is Veterans Day?<br />
The students at Cherokee<br />
Elementary School in<br />
Lake Forest had that question<br />
answered by someone<br />
very familiar with the day,<br />
as Navy veteran Jamie<br />
Nero spoke during a special<br />
Veterans Day assembly<br />
on Thursday, Nov. 7.<br />
Nero said to understand<br />
what the meaning behind<br />
Veterans Day is, it’s important<br />
to understand why<br />
veterans are honored.<br />
“My interpretation is to<br />
honor and recognize those<br />
who have served and defended<br />
life, liberty and<br />
pursuit of your individual<br />
happiness,” he said, and<br />
to also defend “our way of<br />
life and the freedoms that<br />
oftentimes, we take for<br />
granted.”<br />
Veterans have served<br />
in various capacities and<br />
branches, including the<br />
Army, Marine Corps, Coast<br />
Guard, Air Force, Navy<br />
and the Merchant Marines,<br />
Nero said.<br />
“Our veterans today<br />
have served domestically<br />
and abroad in various capacities,”<br />
he said. “Also<br />
understand it’s not just the<br />
branch of service, but who<br />
served. Today that could<br />
be a great-grandparent, it<br />
could be a grandparent, a<br />
mother or father, it could be<br />
an aunt or uncle. In the notso-distant<br />
future, it could<br />
be a brother or a sister or a<br />
cousin.”<br />
Nero isn’t the only veteran<br />
in his family either.<br />
This past summer, Nero<br />
said he went to Washington,<br />
D.C., to accompany<br />
his grandfather, a World<br />
War II veteran who served<br />
in the Air Force, on the<br />
Honor Flight.<br />
A national organization,<br />
Navy veteran Jamie Nero speaks to Cherokee Elementary School students during<br />
a Veterans Day assembly on Thursday, Nov. 7. Nero explained to students why it’s<br />
important to honor and remember veterans every year. Photos by Peter Kaspari/22nd<br />
Century Media<br />
the Honor Flight raises<br />
money to send veterans to<br />
the nation’s capital, where<br />
they spend a day visiting<br />
all the monuments and<br />
war memorials, including<br />
World War II, Vietnam and<br />
Korea.<br />
Nero called it “a very<br />
humbling experience.”<br />
“He never talked about<br />
his service until this summer,”<br />
Nero said of his<br />
grandfather.<br />
He also shared a bit of<br />
history about Veterans Day,<br />
including telling students<br />
that this year is the 100th<br />
anniversary of Veterans<br />
Day.<br />
“Way back on Nov. 11,<br />
1919, the one-year anniversary<br />
of the end of World<br />
War I is Armistice Day,”<br />
Nero said. “Every year on<br />
the 11th hour of the 11th<br />
day of the 11th month, we<br />
honor our veterans. Those<br />
men and women who have<br />
served our country.”<br />
Nero told students that<br />
Armistice Day wasn’t a<br />
national holiday until 1946<br />
and it wasn’t until 1956 that<br />
President Dwight Eisenhower<br />
renamed it Veterans<br />
Day.<br />
In closing, Nero told the<br />
students about service and<br />
how they’re already serving<br />
in different capacities.<br />
“It’s not too early to understand<br />
service,” he said.<br />
“You serve the Cherokee<br />
community. You do that<br />
here in town for Lake Forest,<br />
and as you get older,<br />
you serve the greater institutions.<br />
“And who knows? In the<br />
not-so-distant future, perhaps<br />
you will hear that call<br />
of duty, that call of service<br />
to your country, and we’ll<br />
be honoring you on Veterans<br />
Day.”<br />
In addition to Nero’s<br />
speech, the assembly featured<br />
a video showing<br />
photos of veterans that are<br />
either related or have a<br />
connection to students and<br />
staff members of Cherokee,<br />
a song performed by<br />
all Cherokee students, a<br />
presentation by the Color<br />
Guard of American Legion<br />
McKinlock Post 264 and<br />
visits from veterans across<br />
the Lake Forest community.<br />
One of those veterans<br />
was Anne Friedman, who<br />
served in the Army.<br />
Friedman had never attended<br />
the Cherokee assembly<br />
before.<br />
“It was fabulous,” she<br />
said. “It was beautiful.”<br />
Friedman enjoys visiting<br />
with children.<br />
“I hope to inspire them,<br />
especially the girls,” she<br />
said. “Let them know women<br />
can also serve. They can<br />
do whatever they want.”<br />
She especially appreciates<br />
that children learn<br />
about Veterans Day.<br />
“I was just grateful and<br />
thankful that they honor<br />
veterans every year,” she<br />
said. “And they have the<br />
kids participate and show<br />
their appreciation for veterans<br />
and what it means.”<br />
Air Force veteran Ralph Hansen (left) and Army veteran<br />
Anne Friedman high-five and shake hands with Cherokee<br />
Elementary School students following a Veterans<br />
Day assembly.<br />
Cherokee Elementary School music teacher Mary<br />
Prestipino directs students in singing a song honoring<br />
veterans.<br />
The lobby of Cherokee Elementary School is decorated<br />
to honor veterans. Pictured are veterans who are related<br />
to students as well as school staff members.