Hope Lutheran students celebrate and learn from veterans during special concert
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IDAHO FALLS – Hope Lutheran Church and School celebrated Veterans Day this year with a children’s concert dedicated to local members of the military.
Elementary students invited local veterans to celebrate with them as they sang songs, played instruments and told the audience about what America means to them.
The performance was dedicated to veterans, several of whom were in attendance.
Three veterans also spoke to the kids, detailing their time spent in the armed forces and describing what Veterans Day means to them.
Retired US Army Colonel Michael Hefty told the kids about how his time spent in the Army was very meaningful and how Veterans Day became a national holiday.
“I want to talk to the kids because they’re our future,” said Colonel Hefty. “Everybody joins the military for a reason known to them and for what’s important to them. But everybody that joins signs an oath to the Constitution of the United States so that you can go to school here and so you can grow up and have all of these wonderful freedoms that we all have.”
Kurt Pavlot, a retired Navy veteran, taught the kids about the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and why each are important.
“There’s even some adults that get this a little confused,” said Pavlot. “Memorial Day is when we honor those who gave the supreme sacrifice – their lives. Whereas on Veterans Day, we honor everyone. Those who gave their lives, as well as those living. The people who put on a uniform, even if it was just for one day.”
Pavlot spoke to the kids about heroes and told them who he thinks deserves the title of a hero.
“I hear about heroes all the time on TV and in commercials. I think that term gets overused at times,” said Pavlot. “Personally, I’ve worn a uniform for almost 25 years, but I do not consider myself a hero. But those folks who did give the supreme sacrifice, who were in combat, and lost their lives, they are our heroes. ”
The last veteran to speak was Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Hancock, a United States Marine Core retiree. Colonel Hancock spoke to the kids about his time in Top Gun, the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program.
“I want to mention the unspoken heroes of our country who support the veterans,” said Hancock. “The mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, neighbors and all of that. Those are the ones who sit at home full of worry, who send things back and forth to us, and we couldn’t do it with out them.”
Colonel Hancock made a point to tell the kids about his time in the Navy and some of the things it taught him about the world and the people in it.
“I got to live all over the world,” said Colonel Hancock. “I got to see that all of the people, the vast amount of people I met, no matter how ‘scary’ they might have looked, would give you the shirt off their back if they thought you needed it. They were right there with you.”
After the speakers were finished, the students ate cake with the veterans and thanked them for their service.
“It’s important for the kids to appreciate what the veterans have done for them. It gives them their freedoms that they have to come today to learn at school,” says Hope Lutheran headmaster, Bryan Northcutt. “And also to celebrate and give them chance to see and meet them.”