Benson
There will be a Veterans Day program at 9 a.m. Tuesday at Benson High School. Burle Force will give the keynote address "Freedom is Not Free." Force was a radio/telephone operator in the U.S. Marine Corps serving in the Asiatic/Pacific campaign during WWII with the 3rd Marine Infantry Division on the islands of the Philippines and Guam. Aaron Lindahl, Boys State representative, will read "The American Veteran." The high school band and choir will perform. The community is welcome.
Bird Island
There will be a Veterans Day program at 12:45 p.m. Tuesday at St. Mary's School in Bird Island. Alex Neubauer and Tara Hilgert, Boys and Girls State representatives from Bird Island, will speak. There will be patriotic music and veteran essays.
The community will dedicate a flag memorial in honor of Sgt. Kyle Miller at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Miller was killed in action July 29, 2006, while serving near Balad, Iraq.
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The Veterans Day dedication will be at the site of the memorial in the city park. Brig. Gen. Jon Trost, training and doctrine command deputy commanding general, will provide the main address.
Sgt. Jamison Burgess, of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery based in New Ulm, will also speak at the event. He served alongside Miller in Iraq. Two other soldiers who served alongside Miller in the unit -- Spc. Bret Baumgardt and Spc. Lucas Johnson -- will unveil the monument.
Miller's mother, Kathy Miller, is a resident of Bird Island; his father and stepmother, Randy and Candy Miller, live in Willmar.
Olivia
A Veterans Day program will be at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday at BOLD school. The Rev. Byron Perrine will give the address and the BOLD school band and chorus will be part of the program. The public is welcome.
Raymond
All veterans and their spouses are invited to the potluck Veterans Day supper at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Raymond Community Center. The Eagle Lake Gospel Quartette will present a musical program. Raymond's 2008 Girls and Boys State representatives, Amanda Holmgren and Jordan Smith, will report on their experiences. Bring a dish to share; beverages, dessert and utensils will be provided.
Willmar
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A display of military items from the Civil War through the present will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday at the Willmar City Auditorium in Willmar. The collections of Jon Lindstrand of Kandiyohi and Dale and Sharon Koenen of Clara City, along with the New Ulm Battery's original Civil War brass cannon, will be on display.
There will be a program at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, with Brig. Gen. Jon Trost as the speaker. He is the deputy commanding general for the Army Training and Doctrine Command. During his career he has served in Madison, Montevideo and Olivia.
Mitch Schueler, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former member of the Naval Academy Glee Club, will provide music during the program. Capt. Corey Bjertness, pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in New London and chaplain in the Minnesota National Guard, will give the invocation.
Resources will be available from the Veterans Service Office and representatives from the Readjustment Counseling office of the Veterans Administration, including a Global War on Terror outreach specialist, will be there to answer questions from veterans and their families.
n The Willmar Flags of Honor will be displayed in honor of all veterans on Veterans Day. There will be radio broadcast honoring veterans at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday on KWLM.
The Disabled American Veterans West Central Chapter 34 will celebrate Veterans Day with a program at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at Community Christian School in Willmar. Paul Aamot, a World War II veteran, will present a film and talk about being a radioman gunner on a carrier-based aircraft. The public is welcome.
The American Legion will serve a free wild game feed for all veterans and their guests from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at the American Legion in Willmar. Turkey, goose, pheasant and venison are on the menu, with all the trimmings.
The American Legion Auxiliary Unit 167 will serve a pork loin dinner for all veterans and their families at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the American Legion in Willmar. Tickets are $3 in advance and available at the Legion.
