By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
For Bowling Green eighth graders, the Veterans Day program on the courthouse lawn honored many who served long before they were born.
But for Jose E. Artiaga Jr., the program was personal. He was drafted for the Vietnam War when he was just a few years older than the Bowling Green Middle School students at Thursday’s program.
“I’m here to celebrate the memory of all the veterans, and remember all those who didn’t make it home,” said Artiaga, who was drafted into the Army in 1969.
“I was in high school yet,” when he received his draft notice. “I quit high school. I couldn’t concentrate on my school work.”
Artiaga, of Weston, remembered the soldiers he served with who lost their lives.
“They were young boys, like I was, drafted into war,” he said. “Some of us are here with our own personal wounds and some of us are not. I will never forget them. Never, never, never.”
Veterans Day has its origins at the end of World War I when at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the fighting ended with the signing of an armistice.
The message of the Veterans Day program at the new Wood County Courthouse Veterans Plaza was not lost on the eighth graders.
“It means a lot to me, just because I had a lot of family in the military. It was amazing,” student Kaylee Ward said about the program.
“It’s really nice to honor them,” student Maggie Landry said. “It was an honor to be invited.”
Bowling Green Middle School social studies teacher Pat Carney has made sure that his students have some connection with veterans every year. For 19 years, local veterans have come to the school for a Veterans Day program. But concerns about COVID have not allowed that in the last two years.
So this year, Carney worked with the Bowling Green veterans community to bring the students to the veterans memorial plaza, where local veterans and students participated in the program together.
“I’ve always had this idea that these kids need to understand their freedom didn’t come without sacrifice,” said Carney, whose dad, Jack, served in the Vietnam War, and whose grandpa served in World War II.
The students attending on Thursday had raised money for the veterans memorial plaza project last year by holding “penny wars,” with the profits going to the memorial.
The field trip to the courthouse grounds resonated with the eighth graders.
“This is in remembrance of all those people who died and served to help us keep our freedom,” said student Cooper Nagel, as he looked at the monuments listing Wood County veterans who died in battle.
“There are these people bravely dying out there for us,” added student Gavin Roessner.
One eighth grader, Nia Warner, read her essay written for the Patriot’s Pen contest sponsored nationwide by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
With the topic of this year’s essay “How Can I Be a Good American,” Nia began with a quote from Harry S. Truman.
“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand,” Truman had once said.
Nia read her ideas for being a good American as doing volunteer work, being a good student, being kind, encouraging people to share opinions, and thinking outside the box.
The program also included music by the eighth grade choir, the laying of wreaths on the monuments by students and veterans, a rifle salute by Civil War reenactors, and the playing of Taps by Ryan Holley.
