Manhattan celebrated Veterans Day Thursday, honoring 30 years since the Desert Storm conflict.
That’s the 1st Infantry Division Band, one of 125 entries that made the trek from Manhattan Town Center to City Hall ahead of the Ceremony of Honor. All told, there were 1,995 individuals that took part in Thursday’s parade. Other bands that performed Thursday were the Manhattan High School marching band, as well as bands from Junction City, Riley County and Rock Creek High Schools.
Following the parade, guests were welcomed into Peace Memorial Auditorium at Manhattan City Hall for the indoor ceremony, which also was given a new title for 2021 as the “Ceremony of Honor.”
The event featured a variety of speakers, including the winner of the Flint Hills Volunteer Center’s middle school essay contest, sixth grader Olivia Moon from Manhattan Catholic Schools.
Moon’s speech centered around the battles associated with Desert Storm noting the 697,000 soldiers who took part in the war and the 299 lives lost. She ended her speech, tying together Gen. Schwarzkopf’s message to all veterans.
The high school essay winner was Manhattan High School 9th grade student Abbie Geering, who was unable to attend Thursday’s ceremony, but recorded her speech and provided it to News Radio KMAN. Her speech centered on women Veterans, in particular, those who served during Desert Storm.
Geering spoke about how women, often have been marginalized, but have always been part of the same conflicts their male counterparts have been involved in.
(Both speeches from Abbie Geering and Olivia Moon are shared in their entirety at the bottom of this page.)
The featured guest speaker was Kansas State University Associate Professor of History Dr. Andrew Orr, who spoke about the value of freedom, from the perspective of civilians of war-torn countries the United Stated helped fight to liberate in past conflicts.
Dr. Orr spoke specifically about America’s support of Lithuanians who for so long were under Soviet control and how they honored their American heroes.
Dr. Orr went on to say that freedom is a very hard thing to extinguish.
The speech drew parallels to events happening in Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of troops in August after 20 years.
He tied together those events and compared longevity of service in such events to that of prayer and faith.
1st District Congressman Tracey Mann (R-Salina) also provided some words to guests Thursday. Rep. Mann is currently serving on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and he spoke about legislation the House has worked on to support homeless veterans.
The event wrapped up with benediction provided by Manhattan First Free Methodist Church Senior Pastor Lewis Smith.
Essay winning presentations from Abbie Geering and Olivia Moon are shared below.
