Tama County Veteran Service Officer Elizabeth Ledvina speaks during Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District’s Veterans Day program held inside AMVETS Hall in Lincoln on Tuesday, Nov. 11. Ledvina was the program’s keynote speaker. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

LINCOLN – The Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District commemorated Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, with a visit to the Lincoln AMVETS Post #10 Hall, marking the first time the school district has ever held a Veterans Day program in Lincoln in recent memory.

G-R secondary students, including Avery Boyer, Mai Knaack, Prycely Beard, Karina Arvizu-Ersland, Nathan Smiley, and Leila Thesing, were assisted by members of both the AMVETS post and the American Legion, including Reinbeck American Legion Post 242, in conducting the program. The program included a welcome message (Boyer and Knaack), the Pledge of Allegiance (Beard and Arvizu-Ersland), musical performances by both the G-R band and choir, a moment of silence, student tributes (Smiley and Knaack), taps (Thesing), and closing remarks (Boyer).

The program’s keynote speaker was Tama County native, retired Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Ledvina of rural Toledo who, until recently, served as full-time director of the Tama County Veterans Affairs Office alongside fellow director Chad Weaver who was hired this past spring. Ledvina recently moved to part-time director as she prepares for retirement next summer. She joined the Iowa National Guard in 1982 and was deployed to Iraq from 2003-2004 where she served as a platoon sergeant and as an operations sergeant.

“For over 23 years, I have ran an office smaller than this auditorium that helps 1,400 veterans a year,” Ledvina told the audience as part of her address. Roughly halfway through her remarks, she recognized Tama County Veterans Affairs Commissioner Doug Sienknecht of Lincoln, seated in the front row, for inviting her to speak as part of the program.

“You don’t have to enlist to honor [veterans],” Ledvina also said before then “assigning homework” to the students.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Find one veteran,” she instructed, and ask, “What’s one thing you wished teenagers understood about service?”

Also as part of her remarks, Ledvina asked the students to simply practice kindness when encountering veterans, telling the students that even a wave ‘hello’ can go a long way.

“Today, let’s make kindness our down payment on the debt we owe to every veteran here – past, present, and future,” she urged in closing.

Later that afternoon, the Reinbeck American Legion also assisted with a Veterans Day program at Gladbrook-Reinbeck Elementary School in Reinbeck.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER