SEASIDE HEIGHTS – The 11th month, the 11th day and the 11th hour is the time when most Veterans Day ceremonies are held. The occasion was well observed around the Jersey Shore but in the borough, it had special significance.
The service was able to be held outside for the first time in several years during the sunny morning. In prior years, that wasn’t possible. Sometimes this was due to weather, but it was also because of reconstruction efforts at the Shore Boros American Legion Post 351 which has been working to rebuild its Bay Boulevard headquarters for more than a decade following the damage it sustained during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Members of the nearby Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School Chorus were present to sing the National Anthem.
Their music teacher Jessica Thompson said, “we have 4th, 5th and 6th grade select chorus. The students actually get to sign up for situations like this. I am grateful that we are here today.”
Past Commander Chuck Robbins once again served as master of ceremonies. He was joined by Post Commander Robert VanDeventer, Service Officer Ian Worrell and Post member/Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz.
Robbins welcomed everyone to the annual event. “It is a beautiful day to honor and remember our veterans.”
“Today is more than a day on the calendar. It is a day to pause, reflect and remember the courage, commitment and sacrifice made by those who answered our nation’s call to serve,” he said. “Veterans Day is about honoring all those who have worn the uniform of our great nation in times of war and in times of peace. It is about recognizing the sacrifices that often go unseen.”
He noted this meant, “the time spent away from families and the hardships endured and the challenges faced upon returning home, and for some the lasting scars of service. Each veteran has a story and each story represents a chapter in the history of our nation’s freedom. As members and supporters of the American Legion we understand that honoring our veterans must be more than words spoken once a year. It is a responsibility we carry every day to support those who served, to remember those who never made it home and to ensure future generations understand the true meaning of service, duty and sacrifice.”
Mayor Vaz thanked the work of those members of Post 351 “in rebuilding a tragedy that happened during a storm and its aftermath. We are finally outside after what – seven or eight years? There is still more work to be done but it is beautiful and I compliment the membership for your dedication. I am very happy to see our students from Hugh J. Boyd School. For some young people, they are learning about what this day means.”
“I’m sure their teachers have spoken with them through their curriculum and class activities what Veterans Day means. Going back to my history as a young boy, I really didn’t know. My father being an immigrant, a naturalized citizen from Portugal. My mother being Italian, first generation. They took me to parades on Veterans Day and Memorial Day and I’d wave my little flag but not truly understanding what it really meant. I was too young and not capable of understanding the whole process of military life,” said the mayor, who is a retired teacher and principal. “Our kids, years from now will remember coming to Post 351 and at that time they will remember what a veteran is.”
Vaz reiterated what Robbins said about each veteran having stories. Some of them are not very positive. “All of them will say to you we learned what freedom means dedication, responsibility and proudness at being in a democracy of the greatest country in the world.”
VanDeventer remarked, “I believe 2021 was the last time we were here. We had to have it indoors but I am so thrilled to be here with everyone out here today. I am humbled to be next to this particular monument which my father-in-law, a past commander of this post, designed and helped build as he did the one in Iwa Jima. I wish he was here. Those who answered the call to serve who sacrificed and carried out their duties with courage and honor…Veterans Day is a time to remember their service but I believe it is also a time to remember our responsibility to veterans that does not end when their uniform comes off.”
“Our American Legion Post has experienced demolition. It is not what it used to be. Its structure is a place of community and was suddenly in ruins. When we looked at what we had lost, the road to rebuilding seemed overwhelming and in many ways that reminds me of the struggles that many of our veterans’ face when they return home. Not every wound is visible. Not every battle ends when the uniform comes off. Some veterans carry the weight of experiences they can not easily explain. Physical injuries, emotional trauma, addiction, homelessness, or simply finding their place in a world that has moved on without them,” he added.
“They returned different than when they left,” VanDeventer said. “Like our post building, some find themselves looking at pieces of their life they once knew wondering how they will ever put them back together again. Like the post, out of the ruins something beautiful is beginning and so it will be with the veterans who come as long as we do our part. Rebuilding takes time. It takes patience. It takes people to stand beside one another. Our post will be rebuilt with the efforts of many veterans, families, friends.”
He added, “the American Legion was founded under the principles of service, fellowship and mutual support. Those principles do not live in the walls of a building. They live in the people that carry them forward.”
Post member Larry Pollen placed the POW flag on an empty chair as a reminder to all to “spare no effort to secure the release of any American of captivity, the repatriation of those who died in defense of liberty and a full accounting of the missing.”
Worrell recited a poem called “A Debt We Can Never Repay.” Robbins called upon those with family members who are currently serving in the military to stand up and identify them and they were presented a 250th American challenge coin. The anthems of the branches of the service were heard and Taps was played to conclude the day’s program.
