PHOTO COURTESY OF MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE ASSOCIATION
PHOTO COURTESY OF THAI NGUYEN
PHOTO COURTESY OF THAI NGUYEN
REGION GETS SET FOR CAVALCADE OF
VETERANS DAY EVENTS By C.D. Carter
Veterans Day celebrations in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., will bring thousands of veterans and current service members to the region to pay tribute to soldiers’ centuries of sacrifice. From gatherings at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the Arlington National Cemetery to the University of Maryland, somber reflections will be held on and around Nov. 11. MRFA and 9th Infantry Division Veterans Day Gathering Bob Pries said there’s nothing like it: hundreds of veterans, most from the Vietnam War, walking the length of the Vietnam memorial, where the names of 58,000 fallen are carved in black marble. Pries, an Army veteran who completed a tour and a half in Page 4
Vietnam, is an organizer of the annual Mobile Riverine Force Association and 9th Infantry Division’s Veterans Day Gathering. The event serves as a reunion of former soldiers united by a common bond. “It’s a unique group of people who have shared a common experience,” said Pries, who travels from Michigan every year to join fellow veterans in Washington. “There’s brotherhood unlike anything else that I’ve ever seen. It gets better every year.” About 100 veterans will meet on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at 8:30 a.m. and head to the wall at 9 a.m., according to Pries. There, they lay wreaths and examine the names of fallen soldiers. Anyone is invited to attend. “A coping mechanism for myself dealing with the war is being with those who have also served,” said Pries, 62. “There’s no better feeling in the world than to sit across from a guy and look them in the eye and say,‘Man, we made it.’” War reflections, according to Pries, can be emotionally trying before and after the laying of the wreaths. During his Honoring Our Veterans - Advertising Supplement
first two visits to the Vietnam memorial, Pries couldn’t make the trek across the entire wall, held back by painful memories as a medic in Vietnam. “We have a lot of really good laughs together, but it’s the best of times and the worst of times, really,” he said. “It’s emotional there, laying down those wreaths … But we would gladly invite anyone to join us.” For more information, visit http://mrfa.org/2012. VdayDC.htm. University of Maryland’s Veterans Day events Organizers at the University of Maryland, College Park campus have a slate of Veterans Day celebrations and recognitions in early November. The festivities began Nov. 3 in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union’s Colony Ballroom. Veterans planned to gather before November 2012