Veterans honored at Lynn English event

LYNN – The Lynn English High School Junior ROTC commemorated Veterans Day and the 237th birthday of the Marine Corps in a joint celebration Thursday night in the high school?s gymnasium.More than 100 people, including a strong showing of veterans from every military branch, turned out to watch the award-winning ROTC drill teams and Dan Clark, “The Singing Trooper,” sing a medley of patriotic tunes.?Every year on Nov. 10, Marine Corps gather and stand in formation, and they remember their heritage,” said Master Sgt. Gerald Goncalo, an ROTC instructor.View a photo galleryDuring the celebration, a cake was wheeled out onto the floor as Goncalo explained the traditional cake-cutting ceremony. The cake is cut with a Marine?s sword, the first piece given to the guest of honor, and the second given to the oldest Marine present. That second piece is then passed on to the youngest Marine, “to symbolize passing on the knowledge and experience from one generation to another,” said Goncalo.At this ceremony, the first piece was given not to a Marine, but World War II Navy veteran Henry Williams, who was serving at Pearl Harbor during the attack on Dec. 7, 1941. The crowd stood and applauded as Williams, leaning on his cane, received his slice of cake and a coffee mug with the flag raising of Iwo Jima on it. The second piece was handed to the oldest cadet out of the group of 187, and the third was given to Eduardo Garcia, a recent graduate of the ROTC program who came home for Veterans Day just before flying out to Korea with the U.S. Army.As cadets cut the cake with the Marine?s sword, Sgt. Major Kenneth Oswald earned laughs when he said to them, “Don?t cut yourselves!”The night was heavy with nods to the veterans, including a tribute to each military branch when Clark sang the individual hymns of the Merchant Marines, the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Air Force, the Army and finally, the Marines. The veterans were asked to stand for the branch they served in.The crowd was wowed first by the three-man drill team as they tossed and twirled the rifles, and then by the nine female cadets in dress blues who performed the “unarmed” drill routine. Both earned rousing applause and cheers from family, classmates and the veterans.When the ceremony was over, the instructors and cadets shook hands and said “Happy Birthday” in farewell.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].