New Concord will honor Veterans in ceremony

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The Village of New Concord is holding their annual Veteran’s Day Ceremony November 11, 2017.

This has been a long-standing tradition in New Concord since 1932. One of the organizers for the ceremony is Jerry Gibson who said the ceremony was started by the young World War One veterans wanting to honor the Civil War veterans.

“W.W.I. veterans took care of it and did it through W.W.II,” said Gibson. “Then you started having other patriotic organizations V.F.W. ,Veterans of Foreign Wars take part and then each war from there on after.”

The local American Legion took over planning the ceremony after the W.W.I. Veterans retired from planning. Once the local American Legion disbanded the V.F.W. became in charge of the Ceremony.

Even though this is now an annual tradition again, Gibson said for about 10 years the ceremony did not take place, when no one wanted to take it over following the V.F.W. Then in 2014 Gibson and George St. Clair went and asked everyone in the Village Hall to meet at the Veterans Memorial to hang a wreath and pray.

“We talked and we came up with this idea and it really started in 2015, so I think it’s a great thing for the community,” Village Administrator Charlotte Colley said. “We’re trying to keep the program similar in length, but do some things that are special for the veterans. So this is the first year that we’ve handed anything out to the veterans. We’ll be giving them red carnations.”

The Veteran’s Ceremony is Saturday November 11,207 at 10:15 A.M. in the village park. The program will be about 45 minutes with the presentation of colors, singing, poetry reading, prayer, presentation of the wreath, and more.

“We’re going to use a flag that has been in the ceremony almost every year since 1932,” said Gibson.

A reception will follow the ceremony at the John and Annie Glenn Historic Site. For additional information on the New Concord Veteran’s Day Ceremony visit the Village of New Concord Facebook page.