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Hail To America's Heroes

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN,

gnewman@tampatrib.com

Published: November 19, 2008

PLANT CITY - Knights Elementary School staged its annual tribute to the armed services at its 10th annual veterans breakfast program.

About 100 veterans from all branches of service and their family members were honored at the event, held the day after Veterans Day.

Principal Janine Hall said she was impressed with the dedication shown by the school staff and students leading up to the performance that included patriotic songs and verse.

"All the students showed a confidence and concentration that bordered on professionalism. I am very proud of the staff and students," Hall said.

Hall opened the program after an elaborate meal served by school volunteers and staff.

Barbara Franques, the director of area schools, thanked all the veterans for attending.

"You are true heroes," Franques said. "It is our honor to invite you here and to show our appreciation for what you have done and continue to do to preserve our freedoms."

The program was centered on the talents of the fourth-grade class at the school. About 100 students sang patriotic songs and recited historic verse. Members of the Plant City High Junior ROTC color guard presented the flag. Head Start program children gave a memorable recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

"This entire experience was a great way for our students to learn the meaning of patriotism," Hall said. "Meeting these veterans face to face was inspiring for them. These men and women are the real heroes in our world. We all gained a sense of pride and patriotic fervor today."

Several veterans dressed in military uniforms that dated to World War II and the Vietnam War.

Cecil Jones, 85, who served in the Navy from April 1941 until 1949, wore Navy blues decorated with chevrons that denoted him as a chief petty officer.

"I served aboard the USS North Carolina," Jones said. "She was a fast battleship that commissioned the year I joined. She fought in the Pacific Theater and bore 15 major battle stars major military battles the ship participated in."

The ship was first of the Navy's fast, heavily armed battleships.

"We only lost eight men, total, during the war," Jones said. "She was a great ship."

Sitting next to Jones was retired Air Force Tech. Sgt. Allan Perkins. He was an airman from 1968 to 1988, serving in Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, Greece and other locations.

"I also have a brother who served in the Coast Guard," Perkins said. "And my father was a Marine who fought in WWII. He met my mother, who was also in the military, at a stateside hospital in 1945."

His mother, Martha E. Penn, 87, attended the breakfast dressed in her Navy Hospital Corps uniform.

"I was stationed in Bethesda, Md., from 1943 to 1945," Penn said.

Penn's father, Army Col. Arthur Boettcher, fought in both world wars.

The veterans said they appreciated the school's efforts to honor them.

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451.

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