Laconia marks 11th Hour of 11th Day of 11th Month

LACONIA — Beneath a bright sun and blue sky more than a hundred men, women and children gathered at Veteran's Square yesterday to pay tribute to the sons and daughters of the city who have worn the uniform and born the arms of the armed forces of the United States in the annual celebration of Veterans Day.

The voices of the chorus of Laconia High School filled the air with a medley of the hymns of each of the services — the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard — to open the ceremonies.

Remarking that the day is one to remember friends and loved ones "either in person or via an heirloom photograph", Mayor Ed Engler said he chose to recall his late father, then drew a snapshot of Donald George Engler in his Army uniform from his coat pocket. He noted that his father was a toddler when Armistice Day was first celebrated in 1919 to mark the first anniversary end of "the war to end all wars . . . until less than 25 years later, it wasn't."

Engler said that by 1942 his father was in uniform and arrived in France as the Battle of the Bulge was waning. He survived the fighting in France and Germany as the war drew to a close. "He was not a hero, in any specular sense of the word," Engler said. "He was just another kid from a small American town who answered the call to serve his country when it came. He did his job. Just like almost all of the 40 million men and women who have worn a United States of America uniform, dating back to 1775."

"The price of freedom," Engler said, "we know has been high. And it remains high. And I say , thank you dad. And to our veterans everywhere, thank you all."

Valerie Johnston, president of the VFW Auxiliary, reminder her listeners that the average age of those in uniform is just 19 "half-man, half-boy." He is an average students, she went on, who played sports, listened to rock 'n roll, swing, jazz, hip-hop and 105 millimeter howitzers. He may forget to brush his teeth, she confessed, but never to clean his rifle. He can save your life or take it — "that's his job," she declared. And he has wept weep in public or in private, unashamed, she closed.

Earl Beale. commander of Wilkins-Smith American Legion Post 1, spoke of the sacrifices made by veterans and their families — frequent moves and separations, risks and anxieties. "Warriors need advocates," he said, in what he said "is not a political statement," explained why the American Legion and VFW fought to expose and overcome the shameful shortcomings of the Veterans Administration. "Veterans need each other," Beale declared, "and our country needs its veterans."