A stirring mixture of heartfelt words and patriotic music filled the Performing Arts Center Friday night at Oxford High School as the seventh and eighth grade choirs performed their annual Veterans Day tribute.
Dubbed the ‘Americana Concert,? the hour-long program, conducted by the Oxford Middle School Music Department, saluted veterans from all five branches of the Armed Forces and thanked them for their service and sacrifices.
Local veterans, many from Oxford American Legion Post 108, seated in the auditorium’s first two rows smiled from ear to ear and swelled with pride as they watched and listened as the young singers honored them.
From the ‘Star Spangled Banner? to Lee Greenwood’s ‘Proud to be an American,? the choir members flawlessly performed a variety of patriotic songs, all to the tune of freedom and melody of liberty.
Mixed in with the music were numerous readings and famous quotes recited by the students.
Vietnam veteran Duane Getzmeyer, of Brandon Township, was the evening’s guest speaker.
A farm boy who was drafted six weeks after graduating high school, Getzmeyer served with the Army’s 196th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam from 1970-71.
Wounded in battle, he was sent home, went to college under the G.I. Bill and embarked on a 26-year career in the field of design and engineering.
Getzmeyer’s currently an adjunct faculty member at Baker College in Clinton Township.
Getzmeyer’s eloquent and touching words echoed through the silent auditorium, expressing the very essence of who the American veteran is, what he did for his country and why he did it.
‘In this room is a group of patriots who left their homes, their loved ones, who traveled to distant lands, sailed the seas and oceans, and flew the airways,? he said. ‘In this room is a group of patriots who served, dared, sacrificed and suffered, not for fame or glory, not for rank or privilege or wealth, but because of a simple obedience to duty as they saw it.?
‘In this room is a group of patriots who went forth under fire ? cold, tired, hungry and maybe homesick ? to achieve final victory,? Getzmeyer said. ‘In this room is a group of patriots who did what you did, when you did it and how you did it, so we could gather here today, do what we do and we’re free to do it.?
Thanks to veterans, Getzmeyer said ‘the people in this room, the people of this country and many peoples of the world? enjoy a ‘precious gift called freedom.?
‘You great patriots have carved in stone that freedom is not free,? he declared.
‘When the next generation of Americans ask, ‘Where have all the heroes gone??,? Getzmeyer said, ‘They’re here among us. Just look around you. They’re America’s veterans.?