Community Gathers To Honor Its Veterans
COOPERSTOWN—Veterans Day was overcast, but that didn’t keep residents from enjoying the parade down Main Street, or from attending the somber ceremony that followed in the shadow of the statue of a WWI infantryman at the north end of Pine Boulevard.
Chaplain Dave Jackson of Cooperstown American Legion Post 579 opened with a prayer, followed by comments from Legion Commander Mike Boyson and American Legion Auxiliary President Jeannie Turner. The full text of Monday’s ceremony is as follows:
Legion Chaplain Dave Jackson
“O God of Hosts, we bow our heads in thankfulness for the victories Thou hast granted us—to us and to those peoples who have united with us to stamp out the evils of aggression, intolerance and greed.
“We beseech Thee to bring the blessings of understanding to the families and friends, in this and other lands, of those who have given their lives that men may be free. Grant, O God, that those closest to the fallen may mingle the pain of their losses with the ennobling light of sacrifice for civilization—sacrifice for a better world for this and other generations yet unborn.
