A full day of school events aimed at honoring service men and women on Veterans Day was capped off with a program held at Wessington Springs Elementary School Monday. In an effort to recognize and thank local veterans for their service to our country and protecting the freedoms enjoyed by Americans every day, the community filled the gymnasium to witness the students’ Veterans Day tributes.
Before the school programs began, a Sunday Veteran Appreciation event featuring free pie and ice cream drew a crowd to the senior center.
Starting bright and early on Veterans Day, Veterans and their spouses enjoyed coffee and rolls with the senior class at the high school with lunch at the Elementary School gymnasium later in the day.
Wessington Springs High School (WSHS) students Taylor Braun and Max Klein opened the program as the Masters of Ceremony, with the middle school/high school band kicking the tribute off with the Star Spangled Banner. Immediately following, the pre-school students led the large crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.
WSHS students Rylan Fagerhaug and Ryder Roduner took the stage with a moving reading titled, “Thank You, Veterans.”
Service members were then invited to stand as the band performed US service songs belonging to each branch of the military.
New to the program this year, K-6 students performed “Our Troops and Veterans” together as a whole, standing in the bleachers instead of up on the stage as in past years.
Jacki Bultsma delivered the keynote address, providing attendees a touching and thought provoking message from the perspective of the spouse of a serviceman.
Middle schoolers brought the noise with “Stars and Stripes,” performing a drum-focused piece using five-gallon buckets as their instrument.
After a flag retirement ceremony held by members of the American Legion Willman-Fee Post 14, the high school choir performed a powerful rendition of “This is Our land/You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
Students, teachers and community members gathered east of the Wessington Springs Elementary School gymnasium to witness a flag retirement ceremony led by members of the American Legion Willman-Fee Post #14 immediately following the school’s Veterans Day program. Retiring the flags by incineration were Legion members Darold Rounds, Jim Brodkorb and Dennis Scheel. U.S. Flag code states that, “the flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”