Veterans Day Celebrations, Leelanau County Veterans

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Leelanau Civil War VetVeteran’s Day is tomorrow (Tuesday, November 11) and there are a few events to honor veterans taking place in Leelanau County. The Leelanau Enterprise reports that the official Leelanau Veterans Day Observance will take place at 11 AM at the Government Center and also that:

The Leelanau Community Cultural Center will host an event Tuesday starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Old Art Building in Leland that will focus on the Vietnam War. Center director Judy Livingston said she is looking for Vietnam veterans who would be willing to talk about their experiences in the war. “This will be a respectful presentation with people being invited to talk about their experiences in somewhat broad, general terms,” Livingston said.
Tim Keenan, president of Vets for Peace in Traverse City, is the program moderator. The discussion will have three general themes:

  • Eighteen-year-old men either volunteered or were drafted to serve in Vietnam. What did you do at that time, and would you do the same if you were 18 years old these days?
  • What experiences in the military service altered your views on people of other races and nationalities?
  • How many years did you serve in the military and how would you describe your time in the service?

Richard Hayes of the Grand Traverse Area Genealogical Society has a list of the “Honor Roll” of Leelanau men and women who died while serving their country being compiled for the Leelanau Historical Museum.

Finally, Leonard Overmeyer of Overmyer Historicals and author of Forest Haven Soldiers has some great Civil War history and photos including information about the “Lakeshore Tigers” at his web site.

1 reply
  1. Andrew McFarlane
    Andrew McFarlane says:

    Something that former Governor William Milliken said in his interview with Tim Skubick this summer that struck me powerfully was this: “I think that during World War II, the entire country was involved in the sacrifice that had to be made in order to achieve the goals of defeating the tyranny of Germany and the horror of war. But today, we are not being called upon to sacrifice. We go on and live our lives, we sometimes we are oblivious of the fact that young men and women are in Iraq today and they are dying and we don’t seem to understand or accept that fact. We are not called upon to sacrifice personally. The president calls for tax cuts for all of us and not for sacrifice to pay the taxes that that war is costing. And so, I think there is something morally and ethically wrong as we cope with this very difficult and this very tragic war in which we now are engaged.”

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