Veterans Day ceremony scheduled in Bordentown Township

    The annual Bordentown Township Veterans Day ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. at the Senior Community Center on Nov. 8.
    This year the ceremony will include the Official Party entrance, Posting of the Colors, with a representation of all branches of service.  The mayor will make a brief welcome speech and will recognize the dignitaries in attendance.  A service song from each branch of service will be played and a brief remark will be made by Chairman Harry Havens of the Township Veterans Advisory Commission.  Assemblymen Ron Dancer and Joseph Malone (R-30th) will make comments and there will be a POW/MIA ceremony by Commander Col. Siegfried Honig.
    Rev. Deacon J. Matthew Tucker from Christ Episcopal Church in Bordentown will provide the invocation and benediction at the ceremony.
    The keynote speaker is state Sen. Phil Haines, who served in the military and the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders.  He was Burlington County Clerk from 2000-2008.  He currently serves on the executive board of the Burlington County Military Affairs Committee.
    A check presentation from the American Legion Post 26 (Bordentown) will be made by Andy Law and Rob Pecht to Terry Dearden, executive assistant of government relations for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.  It will be used to purchase personal items and for shipping those items to Iraq to the recently deployed soldiers.  These items will be sent to Bordentown units currently serving in Iraq.  The American Legion Post 26 matched the donations collected during a campaign that began in the summer months.  The remainder of the donations will be used to purchase telephone cards so soldiers can call home to their loved ones.
    A presentation of the Burlington County Service Medal from Freeholder Donnelly to Mrs. Saunders, a Bordentown resident, will be made on behalf of her late brother.
    The New Jersey Wing Civil Air Patrol Silent Drill Team will perform and a drum solo will be performed.
    A wreath laying ceremony will include veterans organizations and a rifle salute will be performed by members of Post 26.
    The final performance will be by the “Lone Bugler,” U.S. Army Ret. Sgt. Dick Pinter, who will play taps.  The ceremony will conclude with retiring the Colors and the National March.
    A light luncheon will be served immediately following the ceremony.