Veterans honored by Harlingen High School students
Nov. 12—HARLINGEN — They gathered at tables and talked about the old times.
And of the more recent, of postings and stations and ships and battles in far-away places.
Measures of U.S. history going back decades played together side by side at the Harlingen Performing Arts Conservatory on Friday morning. They were veterans of Korea and Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan, and peacetime men and women who'd known service throughout the world.
Harlingen High School had invited veterans and the public Friday to its annual Veterans Day Ceremony. The school's ROTC cadets and instructors greeted veterans as they entered a large room for a lunch of barbecue sandwiches.
"It's nice of them to put this together," said Frank Strubhart, 74, who served two tours in Vietnam as a helicopter crew chief door gunner.
"I appreciate the school putting this on," he said. "They have done this every year. This is my fourth or fifth one."
At that moment a student from the culinary arts class stepped forward in perfect décor, and asked, "Hello, everyone, is there something else I can get for you?"
The culinary arts students were in charge of serving the barbecue plates from a local vendor, and stacks of pumpkin streusel muffins they'd made themselves.
"It feels good doing something for the Vets and giving back to them the way they gave to us," said Lynn Salazar, 17, a senior.
"We actually get recognized for something and not sitting in our kitchen doing nothing and just making stuff for ourselves," she said.
Superintendent Alicia Noyola, Mayor Norma Sepulveda, School Board Member Eladio Jaimez and County Commissioner Gus greeted 63 veterans as they received certificates of appreciation.
"The fact that I am here doing this to honor veterans, the brave men and women that have fought for our democracy, is why I can serve as mayor," Sepulveda said.
Everyone then moved to the main auditorium where they attended a grand ceremony presenting the talents of the high school band, Cardinal choir and the ROTC. The cadets in their smart uniforms recited the poem "My Name Is Old Glory" and some even doubled as singers who did an admirable job.
The cadets also presented a skit about a girl enlisting the U.S. Army filled with all the intensities of such a decision with friends, parents, teachers ... and boyfriend. In one particularly infuriating moment, her boyfriend tells her, "If you're going to be making stupid decisions behind my back, I don't think we should be together. We're done." At which time the whole audience — veterans, relatives, and high school students — broke into an audible and admirable scorn. (The actor who played the jerk boyfriend is a cadet planning to make the military his career).
Everyone seemed to enjoy the event.
"It was awesome," said Aniceto Alonso, 60, a former Navy lieutenant.
"It's just amazing to see the talent that HCISD has," he said.
Some visitors from Canada even felt compelled to attend.
"This is Remembrance Day in Canada," said Penney Roman, 76, a member of the Metis indigenous tribe, one of the First Nations tribes. She proudly wore an "indigenous beaded poppy" along with her sister Keltie Phillips. She spoke about her father James Boyce who served in World War II.
"It was part of our life, our upbringing in Canada," Roman said.
