Brief Veterans Day ceremony draws crowd, despite COVID

AMENIA — The crowd of veterans and residents gathered at Fountain Square in the center of town on Veterans Day might have gone slightly over the governor’s limit of the 25 people allowed at the time, according to town Councilwoman Vicki Doyle, who said the Wednesday, Nov. 11, 11 a.m. ceremony was extremely brief but well attended. Doyle said that there were probably closer to 35 or so who gathered in front of the M&T Bank, where the iconic fountain and wall of local veterans’ names stand to honor those who have served their nation and continue to do so.

“I think we probably pushed the envelope,” said Doyle. “We didn’t advertise, because we didn’t want 100 people showing up.”

The town even announced well in advance that this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic still raging and social distancing concerns, it would not hold its customary Veterans Day ceremony with speeches and songs and salutes and instead just hold a brief wreath laying with members of VFW Post 5444 in Dover there to commemorate the moment, yet people still showed up.

“I think it really shows that traditions like this are so important for marking what’s important to us as a community,” said Doyle. “And to bring the young people in as well, if you have a daughter or son, they may not have known how tough these veterans had it, fighting even unpopular wars like the Vietnam War, it’s really important to show our gratitude that we have this democracy we’re so fortunate to have, even with all of our divisions. 

“If you really drilled down, look at other countries, we are so fortunate to be where we are. Like it or not the president is the president. We should really lay down our differences and march forward. This is the grand experiment and that’s what we fought for and that’s what we want and this is the vote and we should make our vote stick.”

Like Doyle, VFW Post 5444 Sr. Vice Cmdr. Maddie Fletcher — the first woman to hold such a position at the Post — agrees citizens of this nation are extremely fortunate, and should be grateful to veterans for their service. A culinary specialist third class who served in the U.S. Navy for four years, Fletcher said she, herself, is grateful to her fellow comrades who served. And she’s appreciative to both the municipalities that hold Veterans Day observances and the residents who attend them.

“To have people actually want to come see this, it’s humbling,” she said. “We were trying to keep it hushed [up] because of COVID, and then we pull up and there are people everywhere; we had no idea. It feels good that with everything going on people still take that time to recognize us.”

And although the ceremony was brief — so brief, in fact, that Doyle said “if you went there at one minute to 11, you missed it,” — Fletcher said she didn’t mind the brevity.

“The Amenia ceremony wasn’t even like 10 minutes,” she said. They laid the wreath and  played taps. Usually there are speeches, politicians. Yes, they had flags. No, it doesn’t make you sad that it was so short, because there were still people there. It was still packed. There was the Auxiliary and [maybe] 35 people. The Boy Scouts were there. There was a little crowd of civilians; there was us.”

And while Fletcher is ever so thankful for the community’s support on holidays like Veterans Day and Memorial Day, she said she hopes the community will remember veterans the rest of the year, too.

“There are people that sign a piece of paper not knowing if they’re going to come back or not,” she said. “We’re the lucky ones; there are some that aren’t. I feel like it’s forgotten lately. It’s not just thanking them. The hands down answer for this is 22 a day. When we come back… in some towns, yeah, you might get a parade… but that’s an hour of a day.”

Twenty-two is the number of veterans who commit suicide in the U.S. every day. Fletcher said it’s a serious problem that anyone can help with, just by reaching out to a veteran in need.

“A phone call to a vet is five minutes,” she said. “Don’t forget about them. Just a phone call helps.”

Scouts from Troop 3029 in Amenia, from left, Garrett Ackerman and Avery Wickwire, helped VFW Post 5444’s Honor Guard place a wreath at the base of the memorial wall honoring Amenia’s veterans. Former Post Cmdr. Nick Woodard, far right, thanked those who attended this brief, socially distant ceremony. Photo by Erica Doyl

From left, Brooklyn Fletcher, who celebrated her ninth birthday on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, joined her mom, VFW Post 5444 Sr. Vice Cmdr. Maddie Fletcher (standing next to Brooklyn), and VFW members Don Luginbuhl and Justin Dedeles following Wednesday’s ceremony at Fountain Square. Photo by Erica Doyl

Scouts from Troop 3029 in Amenia, from left, Garrett Ackerman and Avery Wickwire, helped VFW Post 5444’s Honor Guard place a wreath at the base of the memorial wall honoring Amenia’s veterans. Former Post Cmdr. Nick Woodard, far right, thanked those who attended this brief, socially distant ceremony. Photo by Erica Doyl