SERVING — JWP High School student council members Lexie Dahlberg and Caitlin Kleve helped veterans get their breakfast and coffee before the program.
Breakfast and a Veterans program
JWP hosts thirty service members
JWP hosts thirty service members
Sat, 12/31/2022 - 3:44pm
On Veterans Day, Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton honored local veterans by providing breakfast and letting them share their stories about their time in the armed forces.
Starting at 8 a.m., veterans and their spouses gathered in the JWP media center for a breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast, juice, and coffee served by the student council. During their meal, there was a slideshow with all the local veterans displayed, including which branch of the armed forces they served in and when they served.
At 8:30 a.m., JWP High School students made their way into the high school gym for the annual Veteran’s Day program. Leading the program was senior Regan Asselin.
Each of 30 veterans briefly shared experiences from their time in the service ranging from the Korean War era to the Gulf War conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s. This year’s speaker was U.S. Navy veteran and current American Legion Post 281 Commander Gary Mittelsteadt. He briefly talked about his time in Vietnam before discussing a list of local veterans he’s worked for years to accumulate.
“It’s important to know history,” he said. “It’s why I’ve worked on getting information on our local veterans so we can know their stories about what it was like being in the service so you may learn from them. You may learn something about your grandparents’ time in the service, too.”
Mittelsteadt let audience members know they can go to www.janesvillemn.gov/veterans for more information on local service members who are currently living or deceased. “I would also like to leave this packet of listings here at the school.”
He then updated the crowd on the Veterans Memorial Disc Golf Course in Lakeview Park. “Each hole is named after a war that a Janesville veteran has fought in,” he said. “That was our way of commemorating and honoring those who served.”
The program finished at about 9 a.m. Veterans stuck around to answer additional questions from students about their time in the armed forces. Many students shook the hands of the veterans thanking them for their service.
