A weekend of activities kept veterans, friends and families busy as All Veterans Tribute week activities began to wind down.
Thirty-five women and 35 men took part in the Emporia Main Street Freedom Run on Sunday morning from the Veterans Memorial to St. Catherine’s Memorial and back. Dena Seibel and Asher Delmott won the women’s and men’s overall divisions, respectively.
“We want to participate in the veterans’ activities and this was our way of being able to contribute to it,” said Mary Helmer, Main Street director. “It’s really been wonderful for us.”
The run was organized by Steve Harmon, whose National Guard unit was called up to Kosovo. He returned in time to take charge of this year’s Freedom Run.
“We’re so glad to have him back,” Helmer said.
Proceeds from the run are donated to the Veterans Memorial.
Full results of the run are listed at the end of this story.
Veterans and members of the community gathered Saturday morning at the All Veterans Memorial to honor the memories of armed service members who have passed and those who live on to serve.
With a color guard from all services and the Civil Air Patrol standing at attention throughout the 45-minute ceremony, spectators heard speakers talk about the sacrifices that had been made in the name of freedom.
Members of the Emporia High School band and the Sweet Adelines chorus provided music before and the Rev. Jim Akers, American Legion Post 5 Chaplain, gave the invocation.
Speakers included Lee Stolfus and Ron Whitney, a Vietnam veteran who read “In Flanders Field,” a poem by Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D., who served in the Canadian Army during World War I. McCrae wrote the poem in honor of his friend, Alexis Hellmer, who was killed during the war and buried in Flanders Field.
“Sometimes we forget why we’re here — and a lot of times, people who aren’t here forget why we’re here,” said Stolfus, who is a past vice commander of the National American Legion.
The keynote speaker for the ceremony, 76th District Rep. Peggy Mast of Emporia, first was recognized for her efforts to assist veterans. Mast introduced legislation to give $2 million in unclaimed Lottery winnings to the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs to help with veterans’ health issues. The Legislature instead divided the money among several recipients, and dedicated a scratch ticket game to veterans, which brought in $450,000 for the veterans. She also introduced a bill, at the request of Olpe student Tanner Burenheide, that gives armed forces veterans a holiday on Veterans Day.
Mast thanked the veterans for their continued willingness to protect “our streets, our communities, our families” while they are serving and when they return.
“So often, I see our patriots come back from service and re-enlist again,” Mast said. “As Americans, we have more freedoms than we are able to understand.”
Veteran Lee Hoskins gave the benediction and an honor guard made up of Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars members fired a salute, followed by two trumpets playing taps with echo.
Many who attended the ceremony drove to the Legion hall, where lines backed out to the parking lot for a ham-and-beans lunch. Several representatives of U.S. Cellular were at the hall to offer veterans free long-distance telephone calls to anywhere in the United States between noon and 2 p.m.
“We know the importance of Veterans Day and what veterans have done, and we wanted to be able to honor that,” said Donna Logback of Manhattan, field marketing manager. “You can call anybody — friends, family, old Army buddies — whoever they want to call.”
A U.S. Cellular employee had downloaded the entire 411 directory information into his phone and was able to look up numbers for those who did not have numbers readily available.
5K Freedom Run results
• Overall, women’s division — Dena Seibel, first; Jenna Roswell, second, Maureen Smith, third; Men’s division — Asher Delmott, first; Lance Sadler, second; and Jacob Kucza, third.
First-place winners in each division were:
• Men — 0-14, Lance Sadler; 15-19, Asher Delmott; 20-29, Jacob Kucza; 30-39, Jack Mason; 40-49, Lorenzo Aranda; 50-59, Larry Everly; 60-69, Bill Selbe.
• Women — 0-14, Andelyn Poulton; 15-19, Amy Lee; 20-29, Dena Seibel; 30-39, Maureen Smith; 40-49, Debra Oden; 50-59, Donna Romans; 60-69, Nancy Tyrrell.