CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Roughly 150 veterans, including one from World War II and two from the Korean conflict, along with state and local leaders attended the American Legion Post 74 Veterans Day program at Lane Auditorium in the Albemarle County Office Building.

“Lord we ask that you wrap your loving arms around our veterans today,” said Charlottesville & Albemarle American Legion Post 74 Chaplain Henry Paul Hagenau, Jr. in his invocation. “Grant peace to their lives, healing to their bodies, and comfort for those invisible wounds they’re carried from their service, and bless their families who have shared the burden of their sacrifice.”

Ceremonies included presentation of commemorative wreaths for the veterans who served as well as organizations and individuals supporting veterans. These included the Judge Advocate General’s School, whose dean Col. Brian D. Lohnes gave the keynote address; National Ground Intelligence Center; Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution; Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War: USMC League; Association of the U.S. Army Central Virginia Chapter; Central Virginia Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America; Central Virginia National Security Alliance; Blue Star Families of Central Virginia; a number of American Legion posts; The Dogwood Vietnam Memorial Foundation; and the American Red Cross.

“Your presence here at the Veterans Day celebration demonstrates your support for our great nation and our veterans,” said Post 74 Commander Christopher Parks. “The American Legion is the largest advocate of U.S. military veterans in the nation and we at Post 74 focus on veterans’ rehabilitation, Americanism, national security, and our future.”

Those who served in the nation’s wars and conflicts were invited to stand when called with one veteran from World War II and two from the Korean Conflict standing first. The numbers of those standing began to increase as those who served in Vietnam were called. Standing veterans began to overlap and increase even more as those were called to stand who’ve served in the War on Terrorism, Desert Storm and Desert Shield, Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Cold War.

The gathering exhibited an awkward moment when Post 74 Master of Ceremonies Pat Kelly said, “Veterans of the current kerfuffle in Iran please stand.”

No one stood, and there were a few chuckles in the audience with one person saying, “They’re still there.”

Col. Lohnes, the keynote speaker, thanked the veterans for their service noting some of those who came home from their conflicts sometimes didn’t hear that.

“To those of you I hope this morning, you can feel the gratitude that our country has for you,” he said. “But there’s something that I want to say in return, something I hope every American hears when they thank a veteran, that is that you are worth it. Your freedom is worth defending, your children are worth protecting, a life you are trying to build in this country is worth the service of someone who may never know your name.”

“That includes all the Americans, Americans who disagree with us, a neighbor whose faith is different, a stranger whose life may not look like our own, and when we raised our right hand we made a promise that was large enough to include all of them,” Col. Lohnes said.

He said if you asked many of those who served they would say they were just doing their job, but Lohnes said it’s more than that.

“I hope you understand how much this nation has depended on people who are willing to do just that, people who are willing to simply just do their job,” he said. “Stand their watch at night, keep the aircraft flying, keep the troops supplied, keep the wounded cared for, as behind those missions were you, people who did their jobs when others were depending on you.”

“Whether you served in combat, whether you served in peace, whether you trained to be ready for a day you hoped would never come, you gave this country part of your life and your service counts, and you belong in this day of honor.”

As they have in past years, the Charlottesville High School Band Wind Ensemble performed the music for the ceremony that included a patriotic music prelude, “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” and the National Anthem during the ceremony, and a two-trumpet rendition of “Taps” to remember the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice.

The American Legion Post at the end of the ceremony gave Band Director Jason Hackworth a commendation for the work he and the students do to prepare and perform for this ceremony.

Hackworth called performing during this ceremony “an honor”.