By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
At 6:30 p.m., on Aug. 1, the Brandon Township Public Library, 304 South St. will host a Purple Heart Ceremony, in partnership with the Ortonville VFW Post 582.
“I feel so honored to get to host the Purple Heart Ceremony at the library this year,” said Fran Hotchkiss, library outreach liaison. “I am thankful for the veterans’ bravery and service, and it is so important to be able to recognize them.”
The program will feature patriotic music by Jacob Wagner of the Jacob Johnson Band, cookies and water, and a presentation about the Purple Heart Award and the recipients by VFW Post 582 commander Dennis Hoffman and other VFW members. Boy Scout troop 139 will also do a flag retiring ceremony outside.
“We’re going to talk about what the Purple Heart is, and what it means,” said Hoffman. “I’ll be talking about a classmate of mine that’s a Purple Heart recipient that was killed in Vietnam when his truck hit a landmine. It’s important to honor the veterans in this community that have given so much, a lot of them have given their lives for this country to keep the community free.”
Ortonville is a designated Purple Heart Community, and there are 73 Purple Heart recipients in the community. Three of them are VFW Post 582 members Don Kengerski, Ron Allen and Duane Getzmeyer.
Anyone who would like to learn more about the VFW can find applications at the Purple Heart Ceremony To register for the program, go to brandonlibrary.org or call (248) 627-1462.