By: Summer Kelley, Staff Reporter

Veterans Day activities kicked off Tuesday morning with the annual program Soldiers in the Classroom.  Eighteen members of Dade County’s American Legion visited Dade County High School and went to individual classrooms to tell students about their experiences and answer questions.

American Legion member Bill Lockhart helps to organize this event each year since it began three years ago. Lockhart also participates in helping to organize other Veterans Day activities for the nearly weeklong celebration that has become a tradition in Dade County.

On Friday the Legion will have a special ceremony and ribbon cutting at 5 p.m. The ceremony and ribbon cutting have been planned to honor the Legion’s donation of the old American Legion Post building to Dade County for use as a war memorial museum.

The museum building is filled with original, authentic items donated by people of Dade County and on temporary loan courtesy of Louis Varnell’s Southeastern War Museum. While some items and displays will remain the same, others will be changed periodically.

A representative of the Desmond Doss Society will be present for the ceremonies as well and will be presenting some of Desmond Doss’ items to the museum for display.

“It is absolutely awesome,” Lockhart said. “We hope the museum will attract visitors into our fair town and will be an economic benefit to not only the American Legion, but to Dade County and the City of Trenton. We hope it will be an educational tool for the community.”

The museum has displays from the Civil War to the present, covering all the wars in between. The museum has been the work of Soldiers for God, a separate organization from the American Legion, but whose members are all American Legion members. Admission to the museum will be free and the American Legion will be offering tours for school classes and home schooled children. 

County Executive Ted Rumley and Trenton City Mayor Barton Harris will be in attendance at the ceremony in order to present a proclamation by the city and county declaring November, Veterans Month.

On Saturday, the Veterans Day parade will begin lining up at Moore’s Funeral Home at 10 a.m. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. and make its way down Main Street to the American Legion building.

After the parade there will be a free lunch at the American Legion where the parade’s Grand Marshall, General Bud Bell of the Air Force, will be speaking.

Blood Assurance will also be on site for blood donations.

Lockhart encourages everyone to come out and support their local soldiers and veterans on Saturday.