Students at Jefferson Lincoln Elementary School in Centralia celebrated Veterans Day a day early on Tuesday by performing a program of patriotic musical numbers in front of a group of local military veterans invited to the school assembly.
Virtually every person in the Centralia elementary school gathered in the auditorium and gym at 10 a.m. Tuesday for a roughly 45-minute program organized by the school music teacher, Cheryl Gorton.
Every student in the school participated in at least one performance, which ranged from flag and scarf waving for the young ones to class choirs for the older students.
More than a dozen military veterans, and at least one active duty member of the U.S. Army, attended the program, sitting at the front of the room in a place of honor.
The program opened with a drum routine performed by older students. As young students finally settled into their seats, the lights in the room went dark. Led by Gorton, a group of students performed a military style drum routine using illuminated drum sticks and 5-gallon buckets.
As the lights came back on, Jefferson Lincoln Elementary School Principal Monica Grund welcomed students, staff, family and military veterans — the guests of honor — to the school.
Next, the youngest students in the school took center stage as kindergarten students performed a scarf-waving routine accompanied by the tune “God Bless America,” and first grade students followed that up with a flag-waving routine to “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
Between performances, an active duty member of the U.S. Army, Sergeant First Class Charles Dukes, spoke briefly to the students. Currently in his 18th year of serving in the Army, Dukes told the school children briefly about his service, which has taken him all over the world, and thanked them for their show of support.
“It's nice to see you guys out here showing your support for veterans,” Dukes told the children. “My wife is also a veteran, and I wish she could be here to see this kind of stuff.”
Next, nearly half of the students stood to sing a musical adaptation of the poem “In Flanders Fields.”
As students sang, one group stood and waved handmade red poppy flowers, which are a symbol of remembrance for those that have fallen and prominent figures in the poem.
“Each year on Veterans Day and at many services around the globe, poppies are traditionally worn, and In Flanders Fields poem is recited,” Gorton told the audience.
Before the final performance, school staff played a medley of the official anthems of each of the five branches of service in the U.S. military and asked the veterans present to stand and be honored.
At the same time, sixth grade students handed out letters and handmade poppy flowers to each veteran.
In closing, the oldest students in the school, the fifth and sixth graders, performed “God Bless the USA.”
