Friendship Manor hosts first annual Veterans Day celebration for resident vets

[November 13, 2024]    On Monday, November 11th, a Veterans Day celebration was hosted at Friendship Manor in Lincoln to celebrate the ten veterans that live in the Friendship Manor facility. These men are Kenneth DeLanie (Navy), Eric Lowe (Army), Jeff Singleton (Navy), Randall Wyland, Robert Thomas (Navy), Michael Worthey (Marine), Alan Boyd (Army), James Saulsberry (Navy), Don Wibben (Air Force), and Richard Pearce (Army).

Anna Clapp, Friendship Manor resident and volunteer, organized the event. Clapp kicked things off just after 3 p.m. by thanking everyone for coming and introducing the speakers for the event. Clapp then welcomed the first of the speakers up, Daniel Benedict.

Benedict is a Veterans Service Officer with the Veterans Assistance Commission in Lincoln. His job is to make sure that veterans have everything that they need, and if they do not, to help them get what they need. He introduced Stephanie Lucas, a woman who is currently training to become a Veterans Service Officer.

After introductions, Benedict began to speak on Veterans Day, starting with some facts. Benedict shared that, from the establishment of our country to today, over 40 million people have served in the United States Military. He also shared that this is the 70th Veterans Day, as Armistice Day was retitled to Veterans Day in 1954.

Benedict then spoke on the nature of veterans and our freedoms as Americans. He gave numerous examples of freedoms that were provided to us by our veterans. This included the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and many more. After these examples, Benedict shared a quote by Ronald Reagan, “some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world.” He then modified the quote by sharing that all veterans do not have this problem.

After Benedict’s remarks, awards were handed out to each of the veterans that reside at Friendship Manor. Lucas walked the award to each veteran as their names were called. Not every veteran was able to attend, but most were.

One of the veterans unable to be in attendance was Alan Boyd. Boyd is currently in hospice, but his sister JoAnn Washam was able to be present to accept the reward on his behalf.

The next guest speaker, Steve Wheeler, then approached the microphone to speak about the Honor Flight program. Wheeler spoke about how this trip is not just a day trip for the veterans that go on it, it is much more meaningful than that. Tina Kackley, who was also with Honor Flight, spoke about the specifics of the trip. It is a trip to show the veterans how much they are appreciated and can be a very healing experience.

The Land of Lincoln Honor Flight, the specific branch of the Honor Flight that Wheeler and Kackley are a part of, was started in 2009. Since then, 72 flights have been completed, with an average of 93-96 veterans per flight today. The Land of Lincoln Honor Flight Regularly rents 747’s to accommodate all of the veterans and guests that they take to Washington D.C. They then showed a brief video giving more detail on the Honor Flight program.

After Wheeler and Kackley’s remarks, Clapp then asked for a photo to be taken of all the veterans. Clapp then thanked everyone for coming, bringing the event to a close.

[Matt Boutcher]