Military Appreciation Night

Taylor has been planning on a Military Appreciation Night now for a few months and it came to happen tonight.

One day, she came home and said she had been walking down the halls looking in all the trophy cases. She noticed there were trophies of all sorts of sports. There were plaques for academics. There was a Hall of Fame. There was nothing for our military or the alumni that have served. We told her to do something about it. So, she stood before the school board and presented an idea on how to recognize her school's alumni that have served.

A flag was flown over Washington DC, one over our state capital. There were two Marines from her school that were in Iraq, and they had a flag flown in Iraq for the school. These flags were put into shadow boxes along with their certificates. She had a beautiful plaque made up with the seals of each branch put on it and had an inscription put on it.

She went to all the recruiters offices and asked them to stand with her and they all did. These guys were great. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines stood tall with her. We couldn't get anyone from the Coast Guard to even call us back.

For the Color Guard, we had the immense pleasure of Lester and Don. Lester is a WWll veteran who came and stood for Taylor the day she took her oath as a Marine. He has many health issues and if you scroll down in her blog, you will see a picture of her visiting Lester during one of his hospital stays. Lester just got out of the hospital not to long ago and he is still pretty weak. But he carried out that huge heavy 14 lb rifle and guarded the flag as long as he could. It was great.

The art dept. made some patriotic banners welcoming the veterans and the band played patriotic songs, including a song for each branch.

The 3 flags were presented, one by Sen. Fred Upton's office, one by State Rep. Rick Shaffer and the other, by Cpl. Cugliotta.

Taylor stood before the crowd and told them why she wanted to do the project. She then told the crowd that when they see a veteran, it is their duty to thank that veteran. She thanked the crowd for coming, she thanked the veterans and then said 'God bless you and God bless America'. A wonderful evening.

We are so proud of Taylor and hope tonight will renew a veteran's spirit, and hope that it will grow a seed in a young one's heart to want to stand up and serve their country with pride.