11/16/2005 9:37:00 AM Students swell ranks at ceremony in PT
Owen Porter accepts a service banner from Adam Gaikowski of American Legion Post 26 to recognize that he has a daughter on active duty with the Armed Forces. Other parents can contact the Legion about obtaining a banner. Photo by Patrick J. Sullivan.
Thirty-six students from Jefferson Community School made an impact simply by attending the annual Veterans Day ceremony staged at the Legion Hall in Port Townsend.
Their ranks swelled the audience to more than 100, the largest gathered for a Veterans Day ceremony here in years.
“It does my heart great to see this many people,” said Adam Gaikowski, commander of the Marvin G. Shields Memorial American Legion Post 26.
The excellent Port Townsend Summer Band performed at the Nov. 12 ceremony, and there were brief remarks from a few male and female veterans. But the highlight was the attendance of the grade 6-12 students from the private school that opened this fall downtown. Student Austin Eldridge was one of the audience members who came to the microphone to speak, noting his thanks to the veterans who have fought to keep America free.
Teacher Julie Marston used to take students from her LOFT school to Veterans Day ceremonies. Now, as part of the new Jefferson Community School located two blocks from the Legion Hall, Veterans Day was brought into the classroom.
The students talked about war, interviewed a veteran, and walked around downtown looking at the monument to Coast Guard and Korean War veterans at Point Hudson, the World War II and Vietnam War plaques at Jefferson County Memorial Athletic Field, and the Shields display at the Legion Hall. Shields, a Jefferson County native, posthumously was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic combat action in Vietnam.
“I tell the students their presence is a gift to the people,” Marston said of attending such ceremonies.
Teacher Jim Roberts said it was a “fabulous” experience for the students.
“We’re not missing another one,” added teacher Crystie Kisler.
One of the more senior guests in attendance was Marjorie Carpentier, a 43-year resident of Port Townsend. An Army brat who grew up at Fort Casey on Whidbey Island from 1921 to 1930, she is a World War II veteran of the Womens Army Corps, with duty in the signal corps. As a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she has long celebrated veterans-related events.
“To me this has always been Armistice Day,” she noted of the pre-Veterans Day name. “Memorial Day and Veterans Day are extremely important to me.”
She has been raising flags at the Marvin G. Shields Medal of Honor memorial here since 1985, when flag duties were part of her son Paul’s Eagle Scout project. This month she raised flags at the Sims Way S-curve pullout for Navy Day and Marine Corps Day (both marking 230th anniversaries) and for Veterans Day.
There was a silent prayer said at the ceremony for Betty Atkinson, a 50-year American Legion Auxiliary member and a VFW auxiliary member fighting serious illness and unable to attend.
Nancy Wiltse of the VFW Post 7014 auxiliary said: “These men and women who went overseas helped earn the freedom we have today. It is not free; someone paid for us to have it.”
Ron Brantner, exalted ruler of Port Townsend Elks Lodge 317, noted his organization’s historic support of servicemen and women, and veterans. The lodge is working on its annual Christmas dinner help for the veterans home in Port Orchard.
“As long as there are veterans the Elks will never forget them,” Brantner said.
The ceremony was part of a change ongoing at the Legion Hall, where Moses Bell has taken over as club manager, as a volunteer. The veterans are enforcing some rules, catering to club members, and hopeful of again doing more public events.
At 1 p.m. Saturday Nov. 26, the club hosts a special reception for U.S. Army Sgt. Martha Krabill, the Port Townsend native who is lead singer with the U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C.
For "the rest of the story" and full coverage of all Port Townsend and Jefferson County news, events and people, subscribe to our award-winning weekly newspaper.
