CARIBOU, Maine — A sizable crowd congregated at the Northern Maine Veterans Cemetery to show their respect and appreciation for the efforts of veterans across the nation during Veterans Day last week.
Dale McGlinn, Vice Chairman of the Northern Maine Cemetery Board, acted as emcee for the ceremony, introducing several people to the podium, including Tim Hobbs, who presented the Invocation and Benediction; Juanita Goetz, who performed a capella renditions of “The National Anthem” and “Amazing Grace”; and the Keynote Speaker Colonel David Cote, who is retired from the United States Air Force.
“Ninety-seven years ago,” said Col. Cote, “in the railroad car assigned to Marshal Foch, the Commander in Chief to all the Allied armies, about 100 miles northeast of Paris, the suffering and the slaughter of World War I — ‘the war to end all wars’ — finally came to its end as the Armistice was signed, effective on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. In the history of our nation, over 42 million men and women served in wartime to defend our ideals and protect the sacred freedom that allows us to pursue those ideals.”
“True,” continued Col. Cote, “as Gene Castagnetti, the director of the Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific said, ‘a veteran, whether active duty, retired, National Guard, or reserve, is someone who at some point in his or her life wrote a blank check made payable to the United States of America for an amount of up to and including, my life.’”
Chief Petty Officer Carl Smith presented the Loring Job Corps Honor Guard to post colors during the ceremony.
The Legion Riders of Madawaska Post 147 gave a 21-gun salute and Fred Ormezzani subsequently played taps near the event’s conclusion.
