Westminster College and New Wilmington Celebrate Veterans Day

The program started with patriotic music by the Wilmington High School Marching Band, and ended with a 21-gun salute from the 1-107th Field Artillery, but it was the emotional program between those events that drew several standing ovations.

Lisa DiDesiderio, president of the Wilmington High Student Council, made program introductions reminding the capacity audience of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month when WWI ended and Veterans Day began.

Charles Y. Mansell, Vietnam Veteran and Westminster College and Wilmington High alumnus, began with stating the Pennsylvania law that requires school districts to have "special exercises" on this day. But perhaps the most gripping reminder was his statement that indicated that it is not God's responsibility to provide a safe place for His people, but it is the people's responsibility to provide a safe place for His people.

Keynote speaker, Admiral Robert Shumaker, an alumnus of Wilmington Area High School and second American POW of the Vietnam War, was shot down in Feb. 1965 and released in Feb. 1973. In solitary confinement for three years, he talked of how he kept his sanity during those years.

"I didn't have paper or pencil in those days, but I did have my memory of New Wilmington and its people. I spent the days mapping those memories in my mind. I thank you for that gift," Shumaker said.

"It was an honor to serve in the Navy for 36 years, and even though historians now tell us the Vietnam War was the wrong war for the wrong cause, I believe it had a noble intent&to live in freedom and democracy.

"Our strength as a nation lies not only in the large cities, but it also resides here in small towns like New Wilmington, where people are strong and nurture positive role models," he added.

"I realize that our religious background teaches turning the other cheek' but we must stand on our principles. We now live in a different world where everyone is involved even if you are not in the military, and there will be sacrifices required of all of us. This time the war is in our own back yard because we must all travel and read the mail. This effort will surpass America's longest war, but we will rise to the occasion just as we have before," Shumaker said.

After a standing ovation and more patriotic music by the band and Westminster's Wind Ensemble, and Men's Choir, two WWII veterans, Harry Gerber and Paul McConnell, who enlisted in the service before graduating, received their diplomas from Wilmington High School. And the audience stood.

Finally, Lindsey Braem, president of the Westminster College Student Government Association and Marcus Smith, a member of the Wilmington Student Council and Boy Scout Troop 733, introduced six other POWs: Abie Abraham, Charles Balik, Thomas Cody, William Fisher, Earl Parker, and Cyril Vrabel. And the audience stood in recognition of their sacrifices.

Other featured speakers included: Dr. Eugene G. Sharkey, Dr. Michael Hink Richard Houlette, and William C. Lyon.

The program was a joint effort by the Wilmington Area School District and Westminster College, and was planned in advance of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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