Cedar Point Elementary School in Bristow held its Fifth Annual Veteran’s Day Celebration in the auditorium Friday afternoon, honoring more than 100 local U.S. Military Veterans.
Retired Colonel Robert Manning, Army Veteran of over 30-years, teacher and former principal of Linton Hall School in Bristow, served as the guest speaker.
Manning told Cedar Point children a story from his own childhood, explaining how after WWII, his dad was stationed in Germany. Being only 2-years-old at the time of their move, Manning grew up playing with German children, speaking German and speaking English with a German accent.
His accent set him up for discrimination when he returned back to the states at the age of five and enrolled in kindergarten. On the playground, he was beaten on his first day of school by some older children who saw him as the enemy.
Manning told the children “it doesn't matter,” that he was a soldier’s son and not really a German. He said he knows if that happened today they would “welcome” a new person to their school, even if he or she were different in some way.
Manning also told the children how, with his father in the military, they moved 18 times throughout his childhood, and often to subpar living conditions. For instance, in France, they lived in a small apartment with no clean water and an infestation of rats.
The audience sympathized with Manning’s situation. A good amount of students stood up to signify they are military children, whereas a greater majority of students had at least one family member in the military.
Manning praised veterans, activity-duty armed forces personnel and their families who also make sacrifices for their service.
“We also need to think about our family, who are part of the military family, who need to raise their children while their husbands or wives are at war or not with them,” Manning said.
With the help of color guard students from Prince William high schools, Cedar Point saluted local veterans in all of the armed forces: Navy, Marines, Air Force, Army and Coast Guard.
Manning explained how these military personnel fight to keep everyone in the United States safe and free.
The children performed musical and poetic productions in honor of the veterans. Under the direction of music teacher, Matt Meyers, the children sang “We Won’t Forget,” “All American Me and You,” “Song for the Unsung Hero” and “My Country Tis of Thee” with help from the audience.
Additionally, each grade level presented a poem, incorporating significant words such as veteran or patriot, and explaining what those words mean to them.
Former Marine, Robin Perez, explained he had come to the assembly as the father of a Cedar Point student.
“I’ve come every year that they’ve done it for the past five years,” Perez said.
“It was great," said Walter Colvin, Navy Officer, who attends every year, and has two children attending Cedar Point.
Principal Mark Marinoble said he believes the program is important, “to all Veterans to pay homage to them for their service to our country and to give back,” and also to teach their students about patriotism. He said it is something unique Cedar Point does for the community, and definitely something he intends to continue.
Meyers said he has been working on his musical program with the children since the last week of September. He thanked Marinoble and Assistant Principal Patricia Koscinski for their support.
School Board member from the Gainesville District, Alyson Satterwhite, also attended the ceremony and spoke in front of the audience, explaining that she too was a military child and thanking veterans for their service.
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