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Veterans Day events planned in area

ELKINS — After having the 2020 Veterans Day celebration moved indoors due to inclement weather, the event will return to the friendly confines of All-Veterans Memorial in Elkins this year with sunny skies in the forecast for Thursday.

The commemoration is scheduled to get under way at 11 a.m. as veterans, family, and friends gather for a host of activities at the corner of Harrison and Randolph Avenue. Former Air Force Captain John Aabler will be the guest speaker at the ceremony that traditionally begins with a prayer and the playing of the National Anthem. Those in attendance recite the Pledge of Allegiance and later in the ceremony taps are played and wreaths are laid to honor those who were lost.

Veterans Day is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on Nov. 11. It is to honor military veterans who have served in the United States Armed Forces

“Veterans Day is to commemorate all veterans that have served in this great country, going all the way back to the revolutionary war,” said Vietnam veteran Jake Roberts. “It used to be called Armistice Day and when Dwight Eisenhower was president he signed a bill rededicating it.”

The Annual Elkins American Legion Veterans Day Dinner typically held the Saturday after Veterans Day will not take place this year. But there will be a luncheon after Thursday’s ceremony at the Legion.

“We are not going to have the dinner this year because of COVID,” said Post 29 Commander Rick Hinchman. “Last year we tried to do it and we kind of went in the hole because of the whole COVID thing. But Suddenlink is catering a luncheon for us that is free of charge for the veterans and their spouses.”

Besides being a member of Elkins American Legion Post 29 and Veterans of Foreign Wars, Roberts is president of the local Vietnam Veterans Chapter 812, which will be holding its annual Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway in the Wal-Mart parking lot on Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. Each year the group raises money to provide the baskets for veterans in the community and for those in need.

“We’ve been doing the Thanksgiving Giveaway every year going back into the 1980s,” said Roberts. “We raise money all year long for it and the basket is a complete Thanksgiving meal with everything including a turkey. I have people every year come up and thank us because they said if it wasn’t for us giving out the baskets they wouldn’t have anything to eat on Thanksgiving. Anything we can do to help out, we do it.”

Also on Thursday, veterans of all eras will be marching and riding in a Veterans Day Parade in Buckhannon. The parade, which will start at 9 a.m. at the Gibson Library and will end at Jawbone Park, will travel on Main Street and then turn South onto Kanawha Street where it will pass the VFW Post 3663 and American Legion Post 7.

There will be a brief ceremony at Jawbone Park at the end of the Parade and a luncheon will be held for all veterans and their families at the VFW afterward. There is no cost for veterans and their families.

The city of Belington will host a Freedom Fest Parade and other activities on Veterans Day. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. through downtown. Vendors will be set up at the Golden Rule from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There also will be food trucks, a cake walk and free entertainment throughout the day and evening.

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