Hal and Diane Hawk have embraced many local causes. One of the most welcome for military veterans has been their creation of the special Veterans Day Lunch on Saturday, Nov. 11 in Port Clinton. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

BY D’ARCY PATRICK EGAN

Veterans Day is a special celebration around Ottawa County, and The Beacon has included a Veterans Special Section in today’s edition of the newspaper.

The Ottawa County area has a long history of its residents joining the various branches of the armed forces, often in wartime, and local veterans will be remembered Saturday, Nov. 11 not only on Veterans Day, but throughout the year.

Veterans organizations are very active throughout the year and events are being held all around Ottawa County, but few gatherings are as poignant as the special Veterans Day Lunch to be held tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 10) at the Jet Express Island Port Bar & Grill in Port Clinton from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in Port Clinton.

The special Veterans Day Lunch is hosted by Crown Battery’s Hal and Diane Hawke. It is a free lunch for veterans and family members, and will appropriately be presented with a wealth of volunteers both young and old by Port Clinton’s Bistro 163, a heralded pay-it-forward restaurant, who will even provide the music. Reservations are not needed.

The Veterans Day Lunch is an opportunity for veterans to gather, socialize and remember— and to be honored for their dedication and sacrifices.

In its third year, the event will be unique, but the local communities recognizing the sacrifices made by our legion of veterans is not.

The annual Veteran Commemoration & Pinning Ceremony was on Wednesday, No. 8 at 11 a.m. at the Genoa American Legion Post 337, 302 West St., Genoa.

Immaculate Conception School will host its annual Veterans Day Ceremony tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 10) in Port Clinton, and the community should join the school children who will assemble after mass on the Ottawa County Courthouse lawn at 9 a.m.

The school has invited all area veterans, as well as city and county officials, and the entire community to honor veterans. If the weather does not cooperate, the ceremony will be held in the parish church. Immaculate Conception 5th graders have written essays, students will have songs to sing, and all will pray together for the brave men and women who have served, said Jennifer Roberts.

The Beacon will publish some of those essays in future editions.

Veterans are brave women and men and, as they should, be in our spotlight throughout the year.

Memorial Day parades were held around Ottawa County in late May in Port Clinton at Veterans Memorial Park; Oak Harbor (Middle School); Lakeside Chautauqua; and Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial in Put-in-Bay.

The Ottawa County Wreath Committee will again bring Wreaths Across America to veterans’ graves in Ottawa County, focusing on Clay Township and Allen Township cemeteries on Saturday, Dec. 16. Community members should join in the celebration as volunteers place more 1,000 remembrance wreaths at the final resting places of Ottawa County heroes.

The Wreaths Across America committee will include the more than 600 veterans interred in the Marblehead area cemeteries of Clemons, St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic, Lockwood, Sackett, St. Joseph’s Catholic, Russian Orthodox, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Wolcott, Hartshorn, and Battefield.

Volunteers and funding are welcome to support the special remembrance. To help, visit the Wreaths Across America, Ottawa County Wreath Committee on its Facebook Page.