After rains and flooding cancelled the traditional Veterans Day parade, St. Croix honored its soldiers a little more quietly but with just as much gratitude this Veterans Day with a ceremony and feast inside Christiansted’s American Legion Hall.
With no parade, some patriotic St. Croix residents went out of their way to find out where veterans were being honored.
“We came to support our troops who are making a great sacrifice for us,” said Carol Farkas, who came to the ceremony with her fiancé Dan Malivuk.
Some of those older soldiers were there in person. Like Winston Georges, a Vietnam veteran thought to be the only St. Croix veteran to have earned a Silver Star, the third-highest honor that can be bestowed upon a U.S. soldier. Georges served active-duty in ’66 and ’67 and joined the V.I. Air National Guard in ’73, where he served another 21 years.
“In Vietnam I started as a point man, the first person in the line when we would go on patrol,” Georges recalled. “I did that for six months.”
Along with a Silver Star for Conspicuous Gallantry, Georges earned a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation Medal with a “V” device for valor during his Vietnam service.
Cyril Barnes, at age 99 the oldest living V.I. veteran, was on hand too. Born on St. Croix in December 1910, Barnes said he moved to New York in 1926 at the age of 15. He served in the U.S. Navy from ’43 to ’46, when he was already in his mid-30s.
“I was mostly stationed in San Diego,” Barnes said. After the war Barnes worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 26 years; he returned to St. Croix in 1979 after 53 years in the States and has been here ever since, he said.
At one end of the hall, National Guard officers, American Legion veterans and political figures took turns at the podium speaking about the sacrifices made by veterans to a room packed with well-wishers, government officials, veterans and their families.
Meanwhile at the other side of the room, behind the audience, women clad in red American Legion Auxiliary T-shirts quietly set up a massive buffet, complete with a patriotic red-white-and-blue cake.
“Today there is and perhaps there will always be conflict in the world,” said American Legion District 10 Commander Charles David. “But the U.S. enjoys security,” he said. “This security did not come cheaply, and a big part of its cost has been paid by veterans who served in our nation’s 11 wars.”
U.S. Army National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Burch, the top enlisted soldier in the Army National Guard, gave the keynote address.
“The men and women of our military have written a check made payable to the United States of America in an amount up to and including their lives,” Burch said. Those who answer the call to serve might never see combat, but all are prepared to lay down their lives to protect their fellow countrymen, he said.
“Yesterday, when the waters rose is a prime example of our National Guard soldiers coming out and helping their fellow citizens,” Burch said.
V.I. National Guard Adj. Gen. Renaldo Rivera recalled how the Guard and the territory’s population of veterans have grown over his time.
“We had about 38 vets when I was in the rank and file, and as of today we have well over 610 veterans back form the conflicts and wars we have been involved in,” said Rivera. He urged veterans to sign up with the V.I. Office of Veterans Affairs, saying the more registered veterans in the territory, the more federal funding will be available to provide services.
Between speakers, the newly formed American Legion Post 85 Choir sang “America the Beautiful” and other patriotic songs.
Once the ceremonies were finished, the gathered throng began lining up for lunch and for the next several hours, veterans, active soldiers and well-wishers had a quiet party before making their separate ways home.
Originally, Nov. 11 1918 marked the official end of World War I, and became known in the United States and Europe as Armistice Day. In the States it became popular in time to celebrate all veterans that day and in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law a bill renaming it Veterans Day.
