Community gathers to honor veterans

SANDPOINT — On the 11th hour of the 11th month, World War I officially ended.

While known as Armistice Day from the end of the war in 1918 until it was changed to Veterans Day under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“In 1918, only two other countries celebrated it, Britain and France,” Ken Hunt, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2453 commander, told the several dozen gathered for the community’s Veterans Day service at War Memorial Field on Friday. “We were the third.”

While the holiday had some “up and downs” in the intervening years, Veterans Day was officially designated as such and is the country’s opportunity to remember its veterans, Hunt said.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our local community for showing up and honoring our veterans.”

He told those gathered that his father died in the Vietnam war and is among those whose names are on a series of plaques at War Memorial Field.

“I just want to thank everybody for being here on this significant date to thank our veterans, Hunt said. “My dad’s right up there. He was lost in Vietnam. So it means a lot here, being home and with all of you being here to share it with all the veterans.

And we want to remember our fallen but remember today, we remember the living veterans specifically. And we’d go out of our way to say thanks for your service, to please go shake your hand or, or have fun with them.”

Bryan Hult, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and Bonner County Veterans Services officer, echoed Hunt’s appreciation for so many in the community showing up for the tribute.

here because there’s so many veterans that are with us today.

“Beginning at Lexington and Concord to the present day,” Hult said. “We’re thankful, Lord, for every man and woman who has put on the sacred cloth of our country, the uniform, and has set their lives apart from civilian life in order to join the team in which they would accomplish the mission.”

From the private who typed on the typewriters to the general officers who oversaw the strategic nature of war, Hult said they all played a role in serving their country.

As he concluded his prayer, Hult said he is grateful that God’s hand is upon the country’s soldiers and that he has brought the country together as a nation.

“We remember the 22 million veterans that are alive today, and the millions that have gone before. We’re grateful … that we could worship in freedom and have liberty to pursue happiness in our lives and our families,” Hult said.