Dear Editor,

The day was perfect, maybe a little cool and windy but the folks came and proper tribute was paid to all veterans and especially the Korean War veterans.

I would like to particularly express our appreciation to two groups of young folks who came out on the school holiday and did us proud.

The ECHS Jr. ROTC is always present and does their masterful task of presenting the colors. It is inspiring to see these young men and women provide this impressive ceremony to open and close the programs at the Veterans Park.

A group of members of the ECHS band were present and presented our national anthem, the marches of the armed forces and the always beautiful "Taps," for which no program would be complete.

The Veterans Park board on behalf of the citizens of Effingham wants to publicly thank these young people for their inspiring parts of this program.

The speaker, Harrell Roberts, a former Marine who was in the front lines in Korea, brought a new understanding of the horrible winter conditions that troops endured as they fought in that faraway land.

As always, a thank you to our newspapers. You published early stories about the event and printed the story and photos from the program.