Veterans, students and faculty alike were anticipating a visit to their Veterans Day celebration from Gov. Mike Pence on Tuesday afternoon in the Lighthouse Christian Academy gymnasium.
“It’s a big day for Lighthouse,” Principal Don Wilson said prior to the event.
It was great that Pence chose to join in the ceremonies at Lighthouse, Wilson said, considering all of the other schools he could have chosen in the state.
The Lighthouse community received the call Friday that the governor was going to be visiting the school for their Veterans Day Assembly, an annual event for the school.
An invitation is put out into the community for veterans to attend.
“I think the students are excited,” Wilson said. “I think they’re ready.”
Lighthouse is a fairly small school, with about 190 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2008, the graduating class at Lighthouse was five high school seniors.
Lighthouse is nondenominational, and instead encompasses a gamut of Christian faiths.
While most students are from Monroe County, both Greene County and the Bedford area are also represented.
Lindsay Laughner, a first grade teacher at Lighthouse, expressed the same enthusiasm as the students.
“We’re just really excited about the opportunity,” Laughner said.
In class, the first graders wrote thank-you notes to soldiers to show their appreciation for their service.
The president of the Lighthouse Board of Trustees, Richard Holdeman , spoke before the celebration began.
“We are truly honored that you are here,” Holdeman said to Pence and the crowd.
Holdeman led a prayer before the event commenced, during which the audience stood for the Posting of Colors, Pledge of Allegiance, national anthem and other ceremonials.
Then, one by one, each branch of the military was listed off while the branches’ music played and veterans of the branch at hand stood to be recognized.
Students performed patriotic musical numbers, including the kindergarten students, complete with hand motions, singing “God Bless America” and an orchestral arrangement of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” performed by some older students.
Principal Wilson then took the podium to introduce Pence.
Not only thanking the veterans, Pence said that every day is Veterans Day in Indiana.
“I am not a soldier,” Pence said. “I am the son of a soldier.”
Pence said he therefore comes to Veterans Day with a sense of “inadequacy.”
“We need to have hearts filled with gratitude,” Pence said.
Pence encouraged members of the audience to see the veterans not as they are, but as they were in the years they served.
“You were answering a call of duty, and you knew what the risks were — and you did it anyway,” Pence told the veterans.
Pence continually thanked and gave praise to the veterans during his speech.
“The day you said yes to America, you proved you were men and women of courage, committed to this country,” Pence said.
Pence also noted the veterans not in attendance who deserved gratitude.
“Let’s remember the families of our veterans on this Veterans Day,” Pence said.
Even though the generation that fought in WWII is often called the Greatest Generation, Pence said he thinks “those that have answered the call in every generation are the best ones.”
Pence encouraged the audience full of students to be inspired.
“Thank you for your courage,” he said. “Thank you for your service. May God bless you and your families on this Veterans Day.”
