‘Brave heroes’ honored during SUNY veterans ceremony
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SUNY Fredonia held its annual Veterans Remembrance Ceremony in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room Friday afternoon.
“It isn’t what we say today, it’s about how we honor these brave heroes every day of the year,” said Jeffrey Walter, a retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer who co-chaired the event with David White.
The hour-long event featured the usual announcements of veteran-related scholarships for SUNY Fredonia students. It also kept up its tradition of setting a lone table up front for one person. That’s to honor veterans who went missing in action or were prisoners of war.
“We call them brothers and sisters. Until that day they come home, we will remember,” Walter said.
The Dunkirk High School Junior ROTC provided the color guard. Levi Dowd, a senior who was one of the Fredonia Veterans Scholarship recipients, played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Walter called veterans “ordinary Americans performing extraordinary duties” in his closing remarks.
Besides Dowd, the scholarship winners were as follows:
— Jacob Green, Courage and Honor Scholarship.
— Michael Calimeri, Ronald L. and Marilyn M. Denison Scholarship (new this year).
— Luis Fernandez, Alexis Wright, Alyssa Wright and Todd Zimmer, Fredonia Veterans Scholarships. Alexis and Alyssa Wright are sisters.