By: Diane Benjamin
There had to have been close to 200 people at the VFW Hall today. They included a busload of kids from Washington Elementary. The speaker claimed this might have been the largest crowd ever. It was standing room only.
The guy seated on the far left sang the National Anthem and God Bless America a cappella. The guy next to him gave the invocation. The main speaker is next, an active duty recruiter. Of course the other two are the local mayors who both spoke. Chris Koos always sounds choked up when he talks about veterans. He said 25 he served with still get together every year.
Both said hi and posed for this pic:
Dan Brady was there. The only other elected official I saw was Alderman Donna Boelen.
I thought the City of Bloomington is and has spent many millions downtown because they want people downtown.
Somebody needs to explain why this event wasn’t in front of the History Museum like every other year. Rumor today was officials didn’t think they had enough parking. Seriously? Are only some people welcome downtown?
The VFW hall was probably better. We went outside for the flyover – 4 planes. The ceremony was inside.
This is video of the Star Spangled Banner. Double this crowd and the count would be close. All of the kids are sitting on the floor in front.
AWESOME!!
Thank you Diane. As a veteran and a shutin, it is nice to see more than a few vets turn out for our special day.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing. My mother is a Vietnam Veteran, she served as a nurse.
That’s a great turnout. Glad to see this was well-attended and documented. Thank you for writing about it. Having said that, I feel badly for the man that you wrote about meeting on Facebook: You commented on his appearance and said despite being close in age, he looked “15 years older than” you. That seems unnecessary to say. He probably looks older than you despite being close in age because he has actually seen war, and carries that with him, and will until the end of his days. And in the era of the draft, he likely had no choice in the matter. I don’t know see how commenting on his appearance was respectful or relevant to any part of that story.
Notice no bane was used? Koos was in Vietnam at the same time, did I say anything about him? You are never happy.