By Mary O’KEEFE

Veterans Day was celebrated in Crescenta Valley on Saturday afternoon at Two Strike Park at an event sponsored by the American Legion Post 288 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1614. Dozens turned out for a ceremony dedicated to all veterans with a specific recognition for those who served during the Korean War.

“The Korean War is often called the forgotten war because of the lack of public attention,” said Lynn McGinnis of American Legion Post 288.

The Korean War followed World War II, which was more well-known.

“The forgotten war began in June 1950 and ended with a cease fire in July 1953, which is still in effect today,” he said.

There were 14 men who served during the Korean War who were honored at Two Strike Park. All received American Legion challenge coins. The coins are a U.S. military tradition. Military members carry these coins with them as a symbol of their service. Also, if a military member is at a bar with others who serve, they can challenge each other by putting that coin on top of the bar. The bar tab goes to those who do not have their coins with them.

Speakers on Saturday included Senator Anthony Portantino who spoke briefly and thanked the veterans for their service.

The event started a little differently than in previous years. Instead of the national anthem being sung, Rosemont Middle School students read a poem by Francis Scott Key.

“The poem was the ‘Defense of Fort McHenry’ by Francis Scott Key that was written at the end of the War of 1812. It was later put to music in 1933 and became our national anthem,” said McGinnis.

The students read the first and last stanzas of the poem. McGinnis said that many may not have heard this last section of the poem but if the audience listened closely they would hear how it honors veterans.

The first stanza reads:“O say can you see,
by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bomb
bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
The last stanza is not as well known: “O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – ‘In God is our trust,’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

  Mary Okeefe