Veterans Day to be observed in the area

Veterans Day, Nov. 11, falls on Wednesday this year. Area schools are planning events in honor of the day. Government offices, the post office, the banks and other businesses will be closed for the occasion.

At California High School, all veterans are invited to join the high school and middle school students for the Veterans Day celebration at the high school.The school will host a Veterans Breakfast beginning at 8 a.m. in the CHS commons and all veterans and active duty military are invited to attend. The assembly will start at 8:30. In addition to speaker Don Johnson, a decorated pilot who served in Vietnam, there will be a reading of one high school VFW essay and one middle school Kiwanis winning essay. Sounds of Joy and Pinto Express will sing patriotic songs. A White Table Ceremony will be done in honor of soldiers.

At 8 a.m., Latham School will begin with a Veterans Day breakfast with a program following at 8:30. There will be patriotic songs and poems sang and read by the students.

On Veterans Day, veterans from High Point community will be served breakfast beginning at 8 a.m. Superintendent Stanley Elliott, who is a retired Army veteran, will welcome the guests. Veterans will be individually recognized. The choir will sing patriotic songs, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

At 9 a.m., Clarksburg School area veterans are invited to the school for a Veterans Day breakfast in the school cafeteria. The flag will be raised at 8:45 a.m.

There will be a Veterans Day assembly at Jamestown School at 10 a.m. All veterans in the Jamestown area and surrounding communities are invited to come to the program to celebrate with the students. The FFA will serve refreshments.

At 8:30 a.m., the Tipton High School observation begins with a program open to the public. Edgar Cole American Legion Post 304 will assist in the event which will include the national anthem and a 21-gun salute.

At 2 p.m., the Prairie Home School Veterans Day assembly will be held. Lt. Col. Raffaele A. "Tony" Monetti, U.S.A.F. (retired) will serve as speaker. He is an U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, and a pilot who has flown B-2, B-1 and B-52 bombers. Monetti is assistant Dean of Aviation at University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg.

All veterans in attendance will be recognized. The high school band and choir will perform patriotic music.

At 8 a.m., veterans at Russellville School will be served a breakfast of bacon and sausage, donated by Mike Wyss, members of the National Honor Society. An assembly will held at 9 a.m., featuring guest speaker Jeremy Amick, veteran of the Army and Missouri National Guard. A Russellville native, Amick has authored many articles on veterans, past and present. His book "Soldierly Devotion," about a Missouri World War I veteran, will be coming out soon.