Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Veterans Day

I've written often about Veterans Day (type it into the search engine at the top of the page), usually something looking at the big picture. Today I'm going to bring it down to the local level.

As it so often does, my American flag is waving in the breeze in front of my house. My house isn't the only one.

Participating Applebee's restaurants are offering free meals to veterans:

Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants invite all active duty and veterans to one of 164 participating restaurants nationwide to pull up a chair for a delicious meal and heartfelt thanks this Veterans Day. With gratitude for their service and sacrifice, active duty and veterans will eat free at participating locations on Veterans Day (November 11, 2008) during regular business hours.

I'll probably go.

JROTC students from schools in my district will participate in a Veterans Day parade:

Cadets from Casa Roble and Del Campo high school Air Force JROTC programs will be participating in Folsom's 2008 Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11. “We Must Never Forget” is the theme for the parade that begins at 9 a.m. in the Mervyn’s parking lot on East Bidwell Street. It follows East Bidwell, Coloma and Natoma streets to the Folsom Community Center. After the parade, a brief ceremony will be held at the Veteran’s Memorial behind the Folsom Public Library.


It's more than just a day off work.

8 comments:

  1. Darren,
    Well stated. Enjoy your dinner. Happy Veterans Day to you and thanks for your service.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had school today. I guess the University does not celebrate all holidays or specialized days.

    ReplyDelete
  3. - God Bless America -
    Celine Dion sings "God Bless America" aboard the USS Harry S. Truman.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7:45 AM

    I went to Applebee's for dinner with my 17-year old daughter. We had a very pleasant dining experience with our waitress and the manager thanking me for my service to the Country. Although my meal was free, I was given fast and especially courteous service.
    Our waitress earned herself a little more than a 20% tip on what the bill would have been had I paid for my meal. My daughter's comment to the manager was "when we come here again, we're going to ask for Erin to be our waitress again."

    ReplyDelete
  5. I went to Applebee's for lunch. Since I only had to pay for my iced tea, my waitress got a very hefty tip :-)

    I liked the red, white, and blue menu I got to order from as well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for your service. I had the pleasure of talking to a new Marine on Marine Corp Birthday the other day. He was one of my former students. I am so proud of him. He's heading out to Pendleton for communications training. This was a young many whose father had abandoned his family. He struggled to get out of school despite his intelligence. The Corps gave him the support he needed. He's a different man these days. And he's just 18. One thing I am planning to discuss with my principal is some sort of plaque honoring the service of graduates from our high school. I think it's the least we can do.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous8:24 AM

    Ellen K - that is a wonderful idea. My hometown church did that when I was a kid going off to West Point. Over the past 27 years, it has made me feel good that my name was up on the wall of church I grew up in. I might have to look into that at my kid's high school.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:44 AM

    I'm annoyed that not all Applebbe's participated, yet they all will piggyback on this publicity (i.e., a "Hey, lets go to Applebee's, they support veterans" toward a non-participating Applebee's). We're in Iowa on a year-long RV trip showing our kids the country and we couldn't find a participating Applebee's near us.

    ReplyDelete