The roll call of veterans standing or waving in acknowledgement. The heartfelt standing ovations for all the veterans seated in places of honor and the speeches from students and an honored guest. All parts of the annual, impactful Thornapple Kellogg High School Veterans Day program.
This year marked the 16th year of the school-community event honoring local veterans while at the same time teaching students the importance of honoring and recognizing veterans for their service.
TKHS Advanced Placement U.S. History students took leading roles in the event offering a welcome, speeches, and poems. TKHS sophomore Isabelle Tolan dedicated her “What Veterans Day Means to Me” speech to her great-grandfather Carl Pickard who served in Korea. Somehow she managed to keep her composure as she finished her speech.
“...yesterday afternoon, my great-grandfather and my hero took his final breath. I know honoring him and his dedication to our country and my family will never be forgotten and it would have meant so much to him.”
Tolan reminded everyone that the sacrifices made by veterans should not go unnoticed. “We commonly hear the words ‘freedom, sacrifice and service.’ We stand for the National Anthem and have various ways to recognize the people who serve or have served. But I think often we become so complacent in our use of those words that we forget their true meaning, and that there are people with real life stories behind them. Veterans Day is a symbol of sacrifice and remembrance for the men and women who have served our nation and day by day, worked to make our country a better place - some by choice and others through the draft. Nevertheless, the importance of the roles they served were immeasurable.”
She continued, “Some veterans came home and returned to their lives and families. Some came home to lives that had completely changed, and others never got the chance to come at all. That is what I want to stop and think about today…I hope today and all the days going forward, we think about those sacrifices and how different our lives could be, had they not been made.”
Another student, Makayla Price, read a piece she wrote entitled “Called Beyond the Badge.” “He is. He just is. He’s not like the others, not the ones who will never return, not those who can’t walk or talk…He is. He just is.”
She went on, “You don’t know what he’s been through or what he’s seen. No one knows. You can’t feel what he feels…No one knows the time he’s lost with his daughter, the first steps or words he’ll never get to experience. He’s not less than those who never returned. He’s not more than those who never left. He is. He just is.”
TKHS Assistant Principal Jeff Dock introduced Jerry Welsh, a United States Air Force veteran, as the honored guest speaker. Welsh served from 1971-75 and continued his service to fellow veterans by working with Higher Heroes USA from 2012-2017. He conducted military transition workshops to help veterans successfully navigate their transition from military service to civilian careers. Closer to home, Welsh was a driving force behind establishing the Middleville Veterans Memorial that preserves the legacy of local service members.
“It’s difficult for me to stand here today with so many great people behind me,” said Welsh, recognizing the veterans seated on the gymnasium floor. “What I’m going to talk about today is a reflection of one veteran’s service which represents these people sitting behind me.”
He said team sports are one of the closest correlations he can make to military service. “Everybody behind me had a team. They worked with a team and when they left, they left behind a team that in many ways was their family.”
Welsh served in the Air Force four years, five months and nine days starting out in special operations in a field called para rescue. His unit was reassigned in 1972 and he was moved into medical supply, which eventually led to his civilian career as President and CEO of HPS in Middleville.
After retirement from HPS in 2011, Welsh eventually took up the cause of helping veterans transition from service to civilian life. “I have to say, this was and continues to be one of the most rewarding endeavors I’ve been involved in in my life.”
Locally, he also helped lead the effort to raise funds and build a Veterans memorial in Middleville, which started not long after two Thornapple Kellogg alumni were killed in action - Nicholas Roush in 2009 and Dane Carver in 2005.
He encouraged everyone to visit the memorial downtown near the old train depot. “There’s something I want you to notice when you walk and step into it. There’s a 10-foot wall that has the names of 13 American heroes.” He added that off to the left and right of that wall are two engraved benches with the words, “Some gave all” on one bench and “All gave some” on the other.
The engraved pavers carry the names of local men and women who served. “I don’t think there's a better example of community support than that Veteran’s Memorial,” he said.
Welsh said his entire career has been in the service sector. “My dad was a veteran and was always helping people in need. But most of all, I tribute my life to my teams - my family team, my church team, these people behind me - a team…That’s what the military provided me. A group of great teams.”
He finished by offering some words of advice. “If you leave here remembering anything today, I have found you gain more by giving and assisting than you ever will by attempting to gain.”
The nearly hour-long service included an opening welcome from TKHS student Emma Ball, a reading of the MIA POW Table by Layli Carpenter, a Veterans Day poem reading by Keira Novak, and another reading “The Nation’s Strength” by Emery Cisler.
Patriotic music was interspersed throughout the event. The band performed the National Anthem, the “American Dream Concert March,” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The TKHS Honors choir performed “My America with My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” and “We Honor You.”
TKHS principal Katie Dorband offered closing remarks by asking any members of the Class of 2027 who were planning to join any branch of service to stand and be recognized before again thanking the honored veterans attending the service.
“We extend our deepest gratitude to the veterans with us and throughout the Middleville community. Your service, sacrifice and dedication to our country define the very best of what it means to serve, and our entire high school family is honored to celebrate you today. Thank you to our students who plan this event and our staff and our guests for making this event meaningful to our local veterans. Thank you for your service, your courage and the lasting legacy you bring to our school and to our community.”