From staff reports
news@joplinglobe.com
Hundreds of area schoolchildren will be guests today for Pittsburg (Kan.) State University’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, while a retired four-star general will speak in Rocky Comfort.
Other communities have events planned to honor veterans.
The theme at PSU is “Lessons About Service,” with the ceremony set for 10 a.m. at the university’s Veterans Memorial. The event will provide the audience with basic military lessons such as why taps is played, what the different military seals represent and why veterans are honored every November.
Ronald Seglie, a local family physician and former military doctor, will be the guest speaker.
Retired Gen. Terrence Dake and Lt. Col. Robert Brumley will be the guest speakers at 1 p.m. at Rocky Comfort Elementary School in McDonald County. Both attended the school.
Dake served as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps from 1998 to 2000 and served combat tours in Vietnam.
n The Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma will have a memorial service at 11 a.m. at the Peoria Tribal Cemetery in Miami, Okla. The ceremony will honor all veterans, including tribal veterans.
Geoff Buffalo, a member of the Quapaw Tribe, will be the guest speaker. He has served as chaplain at Heaven and Earth Hospice the past 5 1/2 years. He is a graduate of Central Bible College in Springfield, and has served as youth and associate minister at churches in Kansas and Missouri.
n Melvin Cook, a Vietnam veteran, is organizing the Veterans Day parade in Miami. It will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Fifth Avenue and North Main Street. The parade will travel south on Main Street, turn left at First Avenue Southeast and disband at the Ottawa County Boys & Girls Club. Traffic on Main Street will be halted at 4:30 p.m.
n In Riverton, Kan., Maj. Richard Massengale will be the keynote speaker at the Veterans Day celebration, “A Tribute to America’s Veterans,” at 1 p.m. in the Gerald E. Barkley Fieldhouse.
Massengale, a 1986 Riverton graduate, will talk about his 20 years in the Army. He has received honors including the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and National Defense Service Medal.
World War II veteran Ralmonde Chrisman also will share his wartime memories.
n In Carthage, the Heartland Concert Band and members of the Carthage Veterans Alliance will be featured at a Veterans Day ceremony at Memorial Hall.
The band will perform starting at 10:30 a.m. Master Sgt. Bill Black, retired from the Air Force and a band member, will be the speaker. The program also will include Jerry Chapman, commander of the Carthage American Legion post, and Sonny Elder, chaplain of the Carthage Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Marine One
Retired Marine Corps Gen. Terrence Dake, who will speak today in Rocky Comfort, was designated as the president’s helicopter pilot for Marine One from 1983 to 1985.
