Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort -- Tri-Command service members participated in the Veterans Day Parade and Ceremony in downtown Beaufort, Nov. 11.
The annual event is held to recognize Beaufort’s veterans and active duty service members. During the parade, the streets were lined with spectators waving American flags and cheering as the color guard, the Parris Island Marine Band, veterans and active duty service members and local organizations paraded through the streets. Following the parade, approximately 200 people were in attendance for the ceremony, including veterans and active duty service members of every branch of service.
“I have three relatives that all served in the Marine Corps,” said Nancy Kurtwheil, an Army veteran and Beaufort native. “I came out here to support all of the brave men and women who signed up, especially in times of uncertainty, and were willing to give everything up for what our nation stands for. I couldn’t be more proud to have served and come from a military family.”
The event had various guest speakers to include veterans and local officials. During the ceremony retired Army Lt. Gen. John Ballantyne, the keynote speaker for the event, spoke about the ways veterans and citizens need to support one another.
“As service members, you sign up to fight to defend the freedoms of our nation, but citizens have their own duty,” Ballantyne said. “We need to remember, respect and honor veterans. There needs to be an awareness and appreciation of what veterans and their families go through. There is so much sacrifice.”
At the ceremony there was a prisoner of war, missing in action symbolic display and wreath laying to recognize those that passed away, were POW’s or went missing in action.
Col. Peter Buck, the commanding officer for Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Brig. Gen. Terry Williams, the commanding general for Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, and Navy Capt. Anne Lear, the commanding officer for Naval Hospital Beaufort, represented the Tri-Command.