There’s a Veterans Day observance planned for The Highground Veterans Park on Wednesday. Theresa Hebert is is special events coordinator at the park near Neilsville. “At noon, we will have volunteers reading the names of all the Wisconsin men and women that were killed, or missing in action, in the Vietnam War and the Korean War. And what we do is we read the names out on our plaza, and also ring our Liberty Bell during this reading.”
The formal Veterans Day program is slated to start mid-afternoon, complete with featured speaker Todd Stage with a message about healing for veterans. Hebert says in case of rain the ceremony will be held indoors in The Highground Learning Center. “At 3:00 in the afternoon we’ll have our Veterans Day program, and that is scheduled right now to be outdoors on our plaza as well. We have a speaker from the Wausau Vets Center, Todd Stage,” Hebert said. “He is a combat veteran, and he does counseling here at The Highground, and he’s going to speaking on his experience and the need for counseling to deal with items such as PTSD. We are focusing this year on our PTSD program that we have. We do give out free books and try to get veterans and families headed in the right direction with any issues that they’re dealing with.”
It’ll also be a chance for the public to check out recent progress on the new Persian Gulf tribute. Looking ahead to next summer, there’s a big unveiling for that tribute already being planned. Hebert said that, “In July of 2016 we have a dedication week for that tribute. We’re going to be inviting veterans and families from across the country, actually, to come and join us for that week in July. It will be a full week of dedication ceremonies, and we’ll have the Wall of Remembrance here as well.”
WSAU