Attendees standing for the color guard. Photo by Bonnie Hobbs.
Fairfax — With flags, dignitaries and heartfelt speeches, the City of Fairfax celebrated Veterans Day. The ceremony was held Friday morning, Nov. 11, in front of City Hall.
A color guard comprising local veterans started things off, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation by Chaplain Don Northcutt, coordinator of the Fairfax Veterans Treatment Docket in Fairfax County General District Court.
Unlike Memorial Day, said American Legion Post 177 Commander Jeff White, “Our focus here is on people currently serving in the military. And it’s gratifying to see the way Veterans Day is celebrated in this city.”
Agreeing, VFW Post 8469 Commander Aaron Coffin said, “It’s a great day to remember our veterans and their families.” He also thanked “the community that appreciates and supports us.”
Next, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11) stepped to the podium. “Today we remember our 23 million veterans in America, plus those serving on active duty and in the active reserves. But we need to do more than that. Keeping our commitment to them after they take off that uniform and continue to struggle is also important. These men and women who’ve put their lives on the line for us need to be supported educationally, medically, legally and jobwise.”
Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34) said Veterans Day is a time when “We also celebrate our way of life and our peaceful democracy – and that’s especially true this week. In Lincoln’s first inaugural address, he said, ‘We are friends in this country.’ So let’s use this Veterans Day to reach out to a friend and make that friendship count. Because our veterans have done what they have so we could live in a democracy and be friends.”
Coffin then returned to the podium. “Veterans Day is a day to celebrate those who served their country and now live amongst us,” he said. Next, he and Joshua Lawton, also of VFW Post 8469, spoke of two such people.
Lawton talked about Jacobo Flores, who was born in El Salvador, came to America and became a U.S. Marine. After serving as a supply clerk in Iraq, Flores went to GMU and helped Lawton found the Veterans Society there.
“He became an engineer and also raised money for scholarships for veterans to attend GMU,” said Lawton. “He later became our post commander and was honored nationally – and one of just four in Virginia – as an All-American Commander. And he wasn’t an American citizen until after he served in the military. So it shows that anybody can become an American if they want to be one.”
Coffin spoke about retired Army Col. Michael Semenec Jr., who was born in a displaced-persons camp in Germany in 1946. He and his parents immigrated to America in 1951 and eventually settled in New Jersey. Semenec later received degrees from three different colleges, including Georgetown University.
He served in Vietnam from 1969-70 and went on to serve nearly 30 years active duty before retiring. For most of his career, he served as a Russian foreign area officer with assignments including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the president’s hotline to Moscow. His military awards included the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star; and after retirement, Semenec became a defense contractor in the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program.
“So we’re not only veterans,” said Coffin. “There’s a lot more that we’ve done. So take the time to get to know the veterans around you.”
Giving the benediction at the ceremony’s end, Northcutt prayed, “God, watch over the U.S. veterans. Bless them and us with wholeness and love. Protect them and their families and grant them lives of joy and bounty. And may God bless the United States of America.”