St. Bernadette School honors veterans

By William T. Clew

NORTHBOROUGH – Students, faculty and administrators at St. Bernadette Elementary School honored about 75 veterans and their guests with an hour-long program last Friday in the school auditorium.
It was the eighth year that the school has held a Veterans Day observance, according to Deborah O’Neil, principal.
The program opened with posting of the colors. The fifth grade served as honor guards, standing in two rows through which the colors were carried from the rear of the auditorium to the stage. Sergeant-at-Arms Alexander Henries and escorts Anna Long and Danielle Lambert accompanied color bearers David Gobran (American flag), Rahul Reddy, (state flag) and Anna Kurina, (papal flag). They marched in to the playing of the Marine Corps Hymn.
Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of St. Bernadette led the pledge of allegiance to the flag and the sixth, seventh and eighth grades sang the national anthem.
Mrs. O’Neil, in her welcoming remarks, told the veterans, guests and students that her father was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. She said he was serving aboard the battleship U.S.S. West Virginia when it and other ships were hit during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.
Kindergarten and  first grade students then opened the musical program by singing “Yankee Doodle.” The second and third grades sang “This Land is Your Land.” That was followed by the fifth grade singing “Fifty Nifty States.”
The sixth, seventh and eighth grades sang the five services songs honoring the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Air Force. As each of the songs was sung, veterans of that service stood to be recognized. The students then sang “God Bless America.”
Students then went to the auditorium stage to read “The Pride of Our Country,” after which the fourth grade sang “America,” also known as “My Country, ‘Tis of Three.”
During the program, prayers were offered by Father Richard F. Reidy, diocesan vicar general and administrator of St. Bernadette Parish; Father John H. Hamm, associate pastor, and Mrs. Loretta Carroll.
Each student in the school had made poppies, drawings, cards or wreaths, Mrs. O’Neil said. They were presented to the veterans and guests. The students ended the program by singing “You Are Our Heroes,” after which the color guard retired the colors, marching out to the Marine Corps Hymn.