Vets Day event moved outdoors

As with many events in this unusual year, the observance of Veterans Day will look quite different next Wednesday due to concerns about spreading COVID-19. The veterans organizations and Custer School District are still planning their annual Veterans Day program, but the event will be moved outdoors and the number of participants will be limited. The forecast for that day is a high of 33°.

Instead of holding the event at the Armory as in the past, the 26th annual program will be held at Custer’s Veterans Memorial Park at 11 a.m. Meanwhile, a number of other traditional events which give veterans and school children opportunities to interact have been canceled. 

As usual, the hour-long program will be run by the students in cooperation with Custer Post #46, American Legion. This year, however, it will be combined with VFW Post 3442’s annual Veterans Day ceremony.

The program will consist of a salute to the colors, patriotic music performed by the school’s band and choir, POW/MIA remembrance, video greetings from South Dakota’s congressmen, an audio keynote address from South Dakota’s secretary of veterans affairs, recognition of veterans in attendance by service, remembrance of deceased veterans from the past year and a rifle salute and taps.

Student participation in the outdoor program will be limited to the student council, band and choir. Additional student performances will be inserted into an expanded video and streamed on the internet the afternoon of Veterans Day for the benefit of those who are unable to attend in person.  

Events that will give more school children an opportunity to be involved are flag-raising ceremonies being planned for both Custer and Hermosa. 

At Hermosa School, a Veterans Day flag-raising program is planned for 7:45 a.m. under the sponsorship of American Legion Battle Creek Post #303. In Custer, a flag-raising program is under development in which worn American flags at both the elementary and jr./sr. high will be retired and replaced with new ones donated by the American Legion Post. Selected students, with assistance and guidance from Post members, will ceremonially retire and raise the flags.

Activities still under development and on the schedule are the Veterans Canteen, which has been conducted jointly by the Custer County Democratic and Republican Central Committees for the past seven years. Organizers are looking to have the event coincide with the school program at Veterans Park. Plans are to provide hot beverages and cookies to veterans, “evoking their memories of field canteens.”

Also under development is tenative visits by Custer Cub Scouts to the assisted living center and nursing home starting at about 4 p.m. to honor resident veterans. The Scouts will honor each veteran with a rose and a hand-drawn card. 

The American Legion Post home in Hermosa will also continue with its annual Veterans Day Soup and Chili Feed beginning at about 5 p.m.   

On Thursday Elk Mountain School will hold a program honoring veterans beginning at 2 p.m.  

“This wonderful program is a delightful example of what was until recently common across the nation, but is now rapidly vanishing with the loss of our country schools,” said Mark Mills, Americanism chairman for Custer American Legion. “Those attending truly get to see ‘America the Beautiful.’” 

Throughout the week leading up to the holiday, the city of Custer will honor veterans by displaying Home Town Hero Banners along its Avenue of Flags on Mt. Rushmore Road. The banners recognize individual Custer veterans with photos in uniform and brief descriptions of their service. 

Traditional Veterans Day activities in Hermosa and Custer listed under the heading “cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic” this year are:  American Legion Poppies, Veterans in the Classroom, Moment of Silence POW/MIA Ceremony, lunch with students for all veterans at Hermosa, Veterans Day program with military child’s table program, Heroes Reception, Custer Elementary School and Custer Jr/Sr High School Veterans Dinner and the Veterans Day potluck lunch.