A crowd of well over a hundred gathered around the Effingham Veterans Memorial Friday for the annual Veterans Day Ceremony, organized by Disabled American Veterans Chapter 7 and the Ladies Auxiliary Unit 7. Attendees were greeted by patriotic selections from the St. Anthony High School Band and the ceremony was emceed by D.A.V. Commander Dave Althoff.
The guest speaker for the day’s event was Missy Koester, who served in the United States Navy from 2004 to 2009. Koester said that it was a great honor to be asked to participate in the ceremony. During her speech, she spoke of the impact of participating in funerals for fallen soldiers.
She said that it was important for the community to gather and show the next generation how proud veterans are of their county. D.A.V. Commander Dave Althoff said that the annual ceremony has been going on way longer than he’s been involved. According to him, the hard part of organizing the event is finding a new guest speaker.
The ceremony also included the playing of Taps an a 21 Gun Salute. The invocation and benediction was given by Reverend Ted Gall.