HIS Kids ceremony honors veterans
JEFFERSON TWP — Veterans of all ages and all branches of the military were recognized in a ceremony Thursday at HIS Kids Christian School.
Eighteen veterans were invited to the event by their children or grandchildren who attend the school at 650 Saxonburg Road.
Sixty-five students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade, as well as seven preschool students in the school’s parking lot, recited the Pledge of Allegiance along with the veterans, listened to a Prisoners of War/Missing in Action remembrance service and serenaded their guests with their version of Lee Greenwood's “God Bless the USA.”
Students also presented their invitees with homemade thank-you cards.
“The veterans were invited by students. They are family members, a grandparent, an aunt or an uncle. This is a our sixth year of doing this,” principal Carol Novy said. “The kids have practiced their song, ‘God Bless the USA,’ the last few weeks and have been making cards for the veterans.
“Other cards will go to veterans in the VA hospital or Concordia. Some are going to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. We know someone who was just deployed there,” said Novy.
Event organizer and second-grade aide Sherry Smith said her nephew, Nic Keith of Jefferson Township, who has been a Marine for 11 years, was just sent to the base.
“I have a heart for veterans because my husband was a Vietnam veteran. They are just amazing people. They give their hearts and their love to the country,” said Smith.
Her husband, Jeff Smith, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, said he’s been at the event for the last three years and even made a friend of Khloe Keefer, 11, a sixth-grader, with whom he made a connection.
The 14-year Army veteran said, “We met in a ceremony and stayed in touch. Our connection was we didn’t have fathers. She found her daddy and they are very happy together.”
Khloe said, “We talk on the phone.”
Jeff Smith said 2022 has been a tough year for him because of a hospitalization and other issues, but he felt it was important he attend the ceremony.
“I come to see the kids and tell them how important freedom and liberty is, and to tell them the cost, and the cost is heavy,” he said.
The cost to veterans was illustrated when sixth-grade teacher Christan Baker recited the POW/MIA Remembrance Service, symbolized by a small table with a place setting and empty chair.
“We are ever mindful that the sweetness of peace is bought with the bitterness of personal sacrifice, pain, deprivation and imprisonment of our POWs and MIAs,” Baker said.
She listed the elements of the “Missing Man” table, including a white tablecloth symbolizing the purity of veterans’ motives in answering the call to serve, while a single red rose marks the lives of these Americans and the loved ones who keep faith while seeking answers. A lemon slice on a plate stands for the bitter fate of those captured or missing in a foreign land, while a lighted candle marks the hope for their return. An inverted glass symbolizes their inability to share in a toast.
“The American flag on the table reminds us that many of them never returned. They made the supreme sacrifice,” Baker said.
Navy veteran Dave Coleman of Apollo attended the event at the invitation of his grandson, Chase Coleman, 8.
“I thought it was really great. It’s nice to see this type of thing going on in our schools,” said Coleman, who served 15 years as a Navy corpsman.
“We need to keep reminding the younger generation of the sacrifices that have been made for our freedoms, to help them be grateful,” Novy said.
