Pride And Purpose

On Sunday, we were proud to have many join us at Heron's Garden in Lake Placid, the site of the annual 9-11 ceremony started by Stanford many years ago. This program was arranged for the sole purpose of dedicating a flag pole with a plaque commemorating the 9-11 disaster.

Joy Pollard, an Air Force veteran and member of American Legion Placid Post 25, stated that it would be great if there were a flag pole in front of Heron's Garden for our annual ceremony. I went to Fran Collum, commander of VFW Post 4300 in Sebring and arranged to pick up a 20 foot flag pole from their Post; two flags were also provided. Jesse Russell, another local Legionnaire built the concrete base for the pole, Lou Werk and Squeaky rigged the pole and with Jesse's help got the pole installed, just in time.

The plaque to be mounted on the pole was arranged by Suzanne and Charlie Krueger with money donated through VFW Post 3880 in Lake Placid, but it was impossible to have the plaque done for the original ceremony. With the help of Scott Funeral Home, the permanent plaque was finally secured to the base two days before the get together.

During the ceremony Joseph Dionne, Highlands County Veterans Service director, related that a close buddy of his was one of the victims as one of the planes hit the Pentagon on that day, a 29 1/2-year veteran, six months from retirement.

This flag pole also represents anyone who served or lost his or her life for this country. Suzanne Krueger, the master of ceremonies thanked the Heartland Riders, American Legion Placid Post 25, their auxiliary, Sons of the American Legion, 40 and 8 Voiture 863, VFW 3880, VFW 4300 Honor Guard and all others that came to make this dedication a very memorable one. Squeaky of the American Legion volunteered to monitor and maintain the flag in accordance with the proper flag etiquette. It was desired to have this in honor of Veterans Day locally but the plaque was not complete quite soon enough.

J.P Plunkett
Commander
American Legion Placid Post 25
Lake Placid