November 11 is Veterans Day, a day to celebrate and remember those who have fought to keep this country free and independent.
The City of Clovis has a long standing tradition of honoring our veterans in their day, and even with the current pandemic that tradition will continue in a slightly different form.
City of Clovis Mayor Drew Bessinger said that Veterans Day celebrates millions of men and women who have served their country in times of war and times of peace. Bessinger is a son of a WWII veteran and a veteran of the Vietnam War himself.
“This day means a lot to me personally, because of my service, my father’s service, I have a lot of good friends who made a career out of the military,” Bessinger said. “So there are a lot of people who have put in their time, put in their dedication and to some people it cost them their lives.”
The Clovis Veterans Memorial District will have several events that due to the health restrictions will be online based.
The first event of the day will be a virtual patriotic concert starting at 11 a.m. and will be transmitted via Facebook and YouTube. The second event will be a Salute to Veterans program that will begin at 6 p.m. and will also be webcast through Facebook and YouTube.
Also, there is an interactive exhibit on Women In Military that had been planned to be an in person exhibit but is now digital due to the current health restrictions.
For more information on the events and to see the interactive exhibit please go to https://www.cvmdistrict.org/veteransdaycontest.
There will also be a flag unveiling and memorial service from the VFW Post 3225 at Sandy’s Country Junction at 6 p.m. located at 532 Clovis Ave. in Clovis. The American Legion Post 147 of Clovis will also be participating in this ceremony to celebrate the Vietnam War veterans.
Commander of the American Legion Post 147 Chris Hoffman said that this day is a reminder of what the Legion does and that is to help other veterans. Hoffman said that this day helps the Legion to work on improving the relationship between the community and the veterans.
“We are veterans continuing to serve, even though we are not in the military we can still serve our community,” Hoffman said. “We are proud as veterans that we have served, we welcome the thanks from our community members, but at the same time we know we served for a reason and that is just our patriotic duty.”
The annual Fresno Veterans Day Parade will also be virtual this year. It will begin at 12 noon and will be available to watch on CMAC via Comcast channel 93 or ATT U-Verse channel 99. You can also stream it directly from the CMAC website at https://cmac.tv/public/.