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By Sally Voth -- svoth@nvdaily.com
WOODSTOCK -- Although many Massanutten Military Academy cadets won't enlist after graduation, every day they're thinking about America's veterans, Head of School Craig Jones told veterans and their families assembled Wednesday morning at American Legion Woodstock Post 199.
Each branch of service was represented as was every conflict since World War II.
Post commander Jack Hollifield was one of several other speakers to address those gathered.
"Every time the call has sounded, our nation's men and women have stepped forward, raised their right hand and swore to defend the nation," he said. "America wouldn't be the land of the free if it weren't also the home of the brave."
MMA became a military school in 1917, Jones said.
"Just a year later was the first celebration of Armistice Day," he said.
All along, the school's mission has been to prepare students for college and adult life, which might include the military, "but most important, to be American citizens who appreciate and understand the obligations of citizenry," Jones said.
He cited the famous quote of Edmund Burke, "All that it is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
"What our young people are learning from studying about you is that good men and women have refused to sit by and do nothing," Jones said.
He said the projects Tom Hanks is affiliated with -- movies "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers," with their accompanying taped conversations with veterans -- are great educational tools. They show young people the courage needed to leave home and family, do what you don't want to do, be ready to pay the ultimate price and to do it for years.
"[Veterans] took care of each other like family," Jones said. "It's the type of love that holds us together. That's what they're learning. ... On a daily basis, they're thinking of you."
Ray Powell, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 936, said the Department of Veterans Affairs is encouraging vets to wear their decorations and medals.
"Go dig in your drawers and find them," he said. "They may be collecting dust, but they're important. And what their importance is is to show your pride in your country, [the] United States of America, and show others that you served, and build pride in others around you that didn't get the opportunity to serve."
Julie Hepner was wearing a 173rd Airborne Brigade Gold Star pin in honor of her son, Army Pfc. Thomas Wilson, killed in Afghanistan two years ago. Tears filled her eyes as the Army's song was played. Hepner was there with her younger son, Ethan.
"This is the second year I've come to this," she said. "It's amazing, all these veterans here. I wish I had the time to be able to talk to everybody, find out where they served, what they did. I'm just really proud of these veterans. I just think it's so sad that more youth don't come and try to understand it.
"For me, coming to these things, it's a connection [to Wilson]. We need that deeper connection on a military level."
Coast Guard veteran Andy Anderson, 77, served for a little more than three years. He was in Korean waters, but never saw action.
"You have to remember our military," he said. "They're special."
Anderson said he would especially like people to remember and honor Chuck Jones, of Woodstock, a Marine who served in Korea in "one of the coldest places you can imagine, and he survived that." He said Jones was recently diagnosed with cancer.
MMA cadet Brian Safader, who served in the color guard at Wednesday's ceremony, was impressed by the veterans' sacrifice.
"It was great that they fought in the war, and that they gave their time to do it," Safader said.
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