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Saint Leo University honors U.S. veterans

Saint Leo University, a former military college, pays tribute to veterans.

By EBONY WINDOM
Published November 12, 2005

ST. LEO - Marguerite McInness was moved to tears during Saint Leo University's Veterans Day ceremony on Friday. And not just because of the color guard and the speeches and the dove release.

This year's tribute held special meaning, McInness said. Her father, Alexander McInness Jr., died last month. And he was a proud World War II veteran.

"He would have liked to be here," said McInness, dabbing her eyes with tissue.

McInness brought along a framed photo of her father wearing a crisp, white Navy unform. She propped the picture on a picnic table near where the Veterans Day service was being held.

The ceremony is an annual event for Saint Leo University, a former military college. This semester the school boasts 6,000 military students, most of whom study online or attend classes on military bases across the nation.

And 1,000 of them are serving in combat zones, too.

Friday, more than 150 students and faculty members paused to pay tribute to the "men and women who have brought security to our nation and freedom to people around the world," said Peter Wubbenhorst, master of ceremonies.

A handful of people came wearing patriotic pins and shirts.

Folks gathered on the school's neatly manicured lawn beneath enormous oak trees. Colorful flags waved nearby. And, at 11 a.m., a bell chimed.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month marks the time at which World War I officially ended.

And moments later, people at Saint Leo paused to reflect. During the moment of silence, a few men pulled off their caps and bowed their heads.

"The American soldier is a warrior," guest speaker Col. Luis Visot of the Army Reserve told the crowd. "They are ordinary people who have been placed in extraordinary circumstances. Veterans Day is about saying, I, we will never forget a fallen comrade. "Any morning we wake up on free land, it's because of people like these who have answered the call," Visot said. John Donovan, 87, comes to Saint Leo's program every year. He served in what is now the Air Force during World War II. On Friday, Donovan showed up wearing a jacket and ball cap adorned with colorful military patches.

"I'm surprised how fast we're going," he said, referring to the dwindling number of living World War II vets. "There were 16-million," but now there are far fewer, he said. "And I'm one of them."

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:55:15]