Local veterans will be honored during a ceremony at Dow James Memorial Park on Friday, including a visit from the new commander of Tooele Army Depot.
The annual Veterans Day service will be held at the Dow James building, beginning at 9:30 a.m. with a free breakfast. Following the morning meal, Col. Jimmy Brown, TEAD commander, will be the guest speaker at the event beginning at 11 a.m.
The Tooele County School District will also be involved, honoring veterans through various assemblies and ceremonies.
Grantsville Junior High School will hold a flag ceremony and Grantsville High School will hold an assembly to honor Grantsville veterans, which will feature a speech by a service member. Stansbury High School is currently holding “Freedom Week” and will hold a prize drawing for one local veteran.
At Tooele Junior High School, there will be a special flag ceremony before the start of the school day. Middle Canyon Elementary will have a morning assembly focused on the national holiday.
Two Tooele County towns will not hold Veterans Day ceremonies, as they work to complete veterans’ memorials in time for next Memorial Day. Stockton and Vernon both hoped to have their memorials completed by the Nov. 11 holiday, but were unable to finish.
Stockton Mayor Mark Whitney said the memorial park, located near the LDS church off Connor Avenue, is not yet complete. A granite wall with the names of the town’s veterans has not been finished and installed at the site, but it should be ready by May.
Vernon will host a craft and bake sale on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to continue raising funds for its veteran memorial. Project organizer Sharleen Manzione had said she hoped to have the memorial completed in time for Veterans Day, but a lack of reasonable proposals slowed down the project.
A groundbreaking on the project took place on Memorial Day after more than $23,000 was raised for construction of the memorial. Manzione said the new plan is to construct the monument with the help of a local contractor.
“It’s going to come together,” she said. “Everyone is still on board and we have a lot of town support.”