Cook County High School (CCHS) band director Bill Tormondsen is not a veteran, but he would like to honor local vets with a Veterans Day concert at 10 a.m. Wednesday, November 11, 2009 in the high school gym.
“It’s just a short ceremony thanking the veterans for their service,” Tormondsen said. “It’s a tribute to them.”
At the concert, the VFW color guard will present the flags while Taps is played. Shelby Anderson will sing the Star Spangled Banner in A Patriotic Salute
by James Hosay. Other pieces include A Piece for the Fallen
by David Shaffer, Amazing Grace
arranged by Frank Ticheli, and a medley of armed forces theme songs called Armed
Forces Salute
arranged by Bob Lowden.
Bethlehem Lutheran Church pastor Mark Ditmanson will narrate the program. Vets in attendance will be given nametags noting the branch of service they were in and will be asked to stand when their theme song is played.
This is not the first time Tormondsen has organized such a program. “I did it in Duluth for years, and it really grew into a big thing,” he said. He has not planned a Veterans Day program at CCHS in the last several years because the school has been busy at that time with football tournaments.
Tormondsen hopes to get CCHS history teachers involved in setting the stage by highlighting veteran history with their students in the weeks before the concert.
Theprogram is free, and the public and all vets are warmly invited. Cook County Middle School and High School students will be in attendance as well.
Theprogram will be over in time for vets to be honored at a Veterans Day luncheon at American Legion Post 413 in downtown Grand Marais.
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