Mariners students hold ceremony to honor veterans
Rather than take the holiday off from class, Mariners Christian School students came to campus Friday to serve those who have served the country.
For more than 10 years, the Costa Mesa campus has put on a program for veterans and their families that allows students to give their thanks.
More than 300 students, teachers, veterans and community members arrived at Mariners Christian Friday morning for breakfast in the gymnasium and a ceremony in the auditorium.
“Even if [the students] don’t get the day off, they’re here to learn so much more from those who made the sacrifice,” said Dwight Hanson, a Mariners Christian parent and a former corporal in the United States Marine Corps. “Whether they served five, 10 or 70 years before me, this is to honor those on Veterans Day who truly make this a free country.”
Hanson led the ceremony’s posting of the colors in which members of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts carried in the American flag and a flag from each branch of service onto the auditorium stage.
While Hanson has been to previous Mariners Veteran’s Day ceremonies, he came to the school Friday not knowing that he would be the honoree for the school’s annual Dr. Ben Friedman Leadership Award for his involvement with the Freedom Committee of Orange County, an organization of veterans who share their stories with students in the classroom.
The program’s keynote speaker Jack Linscott, a World War II veteran and neighbor to a Mariners teacher, shared with guests memories of his service, like when he served on the USS Finch during the mission to bring home prisoners of war from the Formosa Prison Camps in Taiwan.
“We’re losing World War II veterans every day,” Linscott told the Daily Pilot. “Every veteran has a story to tell. In two or three years, [the veterans] might say ‘I wish I did it and I’m sorry I didn’t.’”
Mariners Christian students returned their own acts of service to veterans Friday by presenting checks totaling $7,230 from fundraising and donations to the Lyon Air Museum in Costa Mesa. The money will upkeep the museum’s “Willa Dean” plane, allowing the museum to give free flights to World War II and Korean War veterans.
A Labrador puppy named Walter’s Honor, who the school adopted in 2014 to give to the San Diego-based Freedom Dogs nonprofit, also paid a visit to the ceremony as a newly graduated service dog, drawing “oohs” and “aahs” from the students.
Freedom Dogs provides service dogs for Marines impacted by the emotional or physical injuries from war.
The ceremony Friday finished with a prayer led by head of School Troy Moore and a group song of “God Bless America.”
Twitter: @AlexandraChan10
