Veterans Day events set in Princeton, West Windsor

Ceremonies to take place Nov. 11

By: Marjorie Censer
   Princeton and West Windsor will host local Veterans Day events next week to pay homage to those who have served in war.
   The Spirit of Princeton Committee will host a Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 11 at the All Wars Monument at Mercer and Nassau streets.
   The event is open to the public and will feature two speakers from the Marine Corps detachment in Trenton, as well as the brass section of the Blawenburg Band.
   Major Matthew Woodhead and First Sgt. Ruffino Mendez-Rivera will address the audience. Major Woodhead, who oversees the training of the reserve artillery battery, is expected to speak on current Marine Corps operations. He attended Carnegie Mellon University and has served in Kuwait for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
   First Sgt. Mendez-Rivera, who has been assigned to the Marine detachment in Trenton since March 2004, served in Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He will discuss the quality of young enlisted Marines today.
   Retired Lt. Col. Brooks Dyer, a Spirit of Princeton Committee member, said Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand and a Princeton Borough official also will address the audience.
   He said some 150 people attended last year’s ceremony.
   "It’s really a ceremony to thank anyone who has served in the armed forces of the United States," Lt. Col. Dyer said.
   The Spirit of Princeton is a grassroots organization founded in 1997 to fund, promote and coordinate patriotic events in Princeton, including the Fourth of July fireworks, the Memorial Day parade and the Flag Day ceremony. For more information about Friday’s ceremony, call Lt. Col. Dyer at (609) 683-0970.
   In West Windsor, Veterans Day remembrances will begin at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 with a ceremony at the Dutch Neck World War II monument.
   The main ceremony, to be conducted by the Township Council, American Legion Post 76 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 925, will be held at noon at the All Wars Memorial at the West Windsor Municipal Building. Refreshments will be served following the ceremony. Questions can be directed to Gay M. Huber at the Township Clerk’s Office, (609) 799-2400, ext. 213.
   Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day and marked the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the armistice that ended World War I went into effect. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill declaring Nov. 11 Veterans Day.