Local communities to hold ceremonies, events honoring Veterans Day

  • Published
  • By JC Corcoran
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Officials from local townships have invited the Hanscom community to participate in Veterans Day tributes scheduled for Nov. 11.

· Veterans Day ceremonies will begin at noon at Veterans Memorial Park on Great Road in Bedford, Mass. In the event of inclement weather, ceremonies will be moved to the Town Hall.

· The annual Veterans Day parade in Lexington, Mass., will start at 10 a.m., beginning at the old School Administration Building on Massachusetts Avenue. On the way to the Lexington Battle Green, the parade will make stops as participants place wreaths at memorials along the route.

· The Disabled American Veterans will be holding a ceremony, beginning at 10 a.m., in Burlington's Town Common. Col. Dave Orr, 66th Air Base Wing commander, will speak.

· The town of Sherborn, Mass., which is located south of Hanscom on Route 16, will honor veterans at a ceremony at the Sherborn Town Hall. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m.

· The town of Concord, Mass., will hold its annual Veterans Day flag retirement ceremony. The event will begin at 8 a.m. at Pritchard's Gate. The flag retirement ceremony has been a Concord Veterans Day tradition since 1965. Each year, torn and faded flags left in cemeteries through the preceding months are collected by the Public Ceremonies and Celebrations Committee and retired in a respectful and appropriate manner. For more information go to www.concordma.gov.

As members of the today's fighting force, we owe it to those past, present and future veterans to keep alive the tradition of this special day. "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave," said Elmer Davis, a Peabody-award winning news broadcaster and director of the U.S. Office of War during World War II.