BRUNSWICK

American Legion George T. Files Post 20, in conjunction with the other veterans’ organizations of the Mid- Coast Veterans Council, will conduct a public Veterans Day ceremony at the P-3 Park on Brunswick Landing, 62 Pegasus St. and invites veterans and the public to attend.

The event will be held at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, organizers said.

Gilbert Ormsby, of Brunswick, a decorated Korean War veteran and member of Brunswick’s Disabled American Veterans Chapter 15, will be emcee. An honor guard from the 25th Marines of the Brunswick USMC Reserve Center will post colors; a rifle detail and bugler from the Maine State Select Honor Guard will salute veterans and play Taps; and the Sea Cadet Corps from Bath will lead the pledge of allegiance.

Former Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers, an Iraq War veteran, is guest speaker at the free event.

The ceremony will include a memorial tribute to local servicemembers killed in action in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, with specific recognition of the two Brunswick-based U.S. Navy P-3 aircrews who were lost to enemy action over Vietnamese waters in 1968. Prisoners of war and servicemen missing in action will be remembered with “A Table Set for One” ceremony.

There will also be presentations of Blue Star Service Banners to four local families with loved ones in the Armed Forces, and Col. Peter Ogden, director of the Maine Bureau of Veterans Service, will be present to award 12 local veterans with honorable service certificates, part of the state’s ongoing “Honor a Veteran” program to recognize every Maine veteran who has served in the military. Also, four veterans will be presented with the state’s women’s silver commemorative coin. Two local veterans will be recognized as purple heart recipients.

Several other Veterans Day observances and recognitions are planned throughout the Mid-coast. Among them:

Elks offer free lunch for vets on Monday

BRUNSWICK — The Brunswick Elks Lodge 2043 at 179 Park Row is again offering a free lunch to all veterans on Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11, from noon to 2 p.m.

Woolwich honoring vets at Nequasset

WOOLWICH — A ceremony will be held at 11 a.m., at the Nequasset Meetinghouse in Woolwich to honor and thank all veterans for their service to our country.

Special honors will go to U.S. Army World War II local veteran Loring “Larry” Edgerly. The guest speaker is Maj. Shannon W. Cotta of the Maine Army National Guard. Woolwich Central School students and the Woolwich Montsweagers will perform and the Sagadahoc County Sheriff ’s Department will post and retire the colors. The will be refreshments.

Annual parade begins at Richmond High

RICHMOND — The annual Veteran’s Day Parade starts at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 11, at the entrance of the high school and will travel down Main Street and end at the waterfront.

The Southard House Museum will hold a free open house right after the parade, until 3 p.m. Besides a museum tour, visitors can view a screening of “The Way We Get By,” the awardwinning documentary about the troop greeters at Bangor International Airport. This poignant film reminds us “…how our culture casts our elders, and too often our soldiers, aside.”

Open house set at American Legion Post

TOPSHAM — American Legion Post 202 in Topsham invites active duty military and military veterans — young and old, male and female — to a special open house session on Monday, Nov. 11, to learn of the benefits of membership in the American Legion organization.

The open house is from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. so active duty military and veterans can stop by and see what the Auxiliary, Sons of the American Legion, and Legion Riders have to offer them and their families.

The American Legion’s success depends entirely on active membership, participation and volunteerism. The organization belongs to the people it serves and the communities in which it thrives.

Post 202 is located at 79 Foreside Road in Topsham.

Chamber sponsoring Veterans Award Gala

TOPSHAM — The Board of Directors for the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber will hold its annual Veterans Awards Gala on Nov. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Bath Golf Club.

Peter Feeney of Bowdoinham has been selected as the 42nd recipient of the Chamber’s prestigious Joshua Chamberlain Award. This award, established in 1976, is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions toward the development and maintenance of the best possible relations between the military and civilian communities. Feeney, a Merchant Marine, will be recognized for his work with the Long Branch School and Veterans Workshop in Bowdoinham.

To be recognized with the Silver Eagle Award are World War II veterans Wilda Steinkuhler of Brunswick and James McLaughlin of Harpswell. Nominated by community members, the Silver Eagle Award seeks to recognize the oldest living Veterans in the Chamber’s 16 town area.

Other individuals and businesses being recognized for their support of area service members, veterans and family members include Candice Carpenter of Midcoast Maine Community Action, IDEXX Laboratories, Ray Poulin of Best Buy, Dean LaChance of Bread of Life Ministries, BONNEY Staffing, Bob Trail of BONNEY Staffing, and the Freeport Flag Ladies.

The guest speaker is Capt. Robert Crowe, United States Navy. Crowe is the co-chairman of the Chamber’s Mid Coast Military & Community Network Committee and currently serves as the Supervisor of Shipbuilding (SUPSHIP), Conversion & Repair in Bath. He oversees the construction of U.S. Navy ships by private shipbuilders in Maine, California and Wisconsin.

Sponsors for the 2013 Veterans

Gala include Byrnes Hospitality Group, Mechanic Savings Bank, Mid Coast Hospital, Parkview Adventist Medical Center, BEK Inc., RE/Max Riverside, and The Inn At Brunswick Station.

Tickets cost $25 per person and include hors d’oeuvres. Attire for the evening is suit and tie or equivalent for civilians or service uniform with ribbons for military personnel. For more information, or to register online, visit www.midcoastmaine.com and click on the Joshua Chamberlain icon or call 725-8797 ext. 5.

MAC features Kalesti and friends concert

BOWDOINHAM — Merrymeeting Arts Center will offer a veteran’s day concert on Monday, Nov. 11, at 1 p.m. at the Bowdoinham Town Hall on School Street.

The center welcomes back Kim Kalesti and friends from New York City, who will join Bowdoinham’s Hal Ahlers and friends in a tribute to our veterans and to jazz: “the uniquely American music.”

Kalesti is a world renown jazz singer who is passionate about singing, performing and teaching. Ahlers is a well known performer in and around the Bowdoinham community.

As part of the show, the first and second place winners of the declamation contest, held last Sunday at the Jellerson School in Bowdoinham, will recite the Gettysburg Address. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the address which was given by Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 19, 1863.

Suggested donations at the door are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and children older than 10. Veterans get in for free.

Stewart Day offers WWII presentation

BATH — Patten Free Library will host a presentation by Stewart Day, a 90- year-old decorated World War II veteran and Bath native, Saturday, Nov. 16.

Day will recount stories of his service as a tail gunner on a B-17, flying bombing missions over Germany and shooting down three German fighters. His own plane was shot down and ditched in the ocean where Stewart assisted fellow crew members before being captured and imprisoned in P.O.W. camp Stalag 17B. His unofficial job there was to make escape maps of the camp. When Allied victory became apparent, he was forced to make a 281-mile march before being freed by the advancing American Army. Stewart was awarded many medals, including the Purple Heart, for his wartime service.

The presentation is free, open to the public, and will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the library’s second floor Community Room. For more information, call 443-5141, ext. 25.

Special deals for train travelers on the 11th

BRUNSWICK — The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority has announced that U.S. military veterans and active-duty U.S. military personnel will be able to travel between any two stations on the Amtrak Downeaster route from Brunswick to Boston for $11 per person each way on the 11th day of every month.

The promotion will kick off on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, and continue indefinitely.

Veterans get in free to Bath museum

BATH — Military veterans will receive free admission to Maine Maritime Museum Nov. 9-11 in recognition of Veterans Day.

Veterans simply have to identify themselves as a veteran, their branch of service and their highest rank or rate. Evidence of military service is not required.

In addition to the Museum’s permanent exhibits, its newest exhibit, “Going Coastal: Humor, Parody and Amusement of a Maritime Nature,” will be on view.

The museum, at 243 Washington St., is open daily year-round, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 443-1316.

Veterans job expo slated at KofC hall

BRUNSWICK — The 2nd annual “Hiring Maine’s Heroes Job & Resource Expo” will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 13 at Knights of Columbus Hall, 2 Columbus Drive, Brunswick. This event is free-of-charge to current and former uniformed service members and general public seeking work.

Organizers said Mid-coast Maine has the highest concentration of former service members and retirees in Maine and that, with the closure of naval air station, many former base workers are still looking for meaningful work.

Confirmed attendees include IDEXX Laboratories, Mölnlycke Heath Care, Bath Iron Works, Naval Sea Systems Command, Reed & Reed, Department of Veterans Affairs, the United States Postal Service, Bonney Staffing, the Maine Department of Labor and the Southern Midcoast Career Center.

Representatives of resource providers such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Togus will be on hand, and seminars will be offered on resume and cover letter writing, as well as interviewing and salary negotiating skills, free of charge.

For more information, visit www.midcoastmaine.com, call 373-4000 or 1-(888) 836-3355 or email [email protected].

Vets to be honored at St. Joseph’s College

STANDISH — On Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, St. Joseph’s College in Standish will honor several local veterans during a full day of events, including an ecumenical service, a flagpole ceremony and a panel discussion led by visiting veterans.

All of the day’s activities are free and open to the public.

The ecumenical service will be held in Xavier Hall at 11 a.m., followed by a flagpole ceremony at noon. Additionally, visiting veterans will participate in a 1 p.m. panel discussion in Xavier Hall about their varied experiences.

Panelists include:

– Debbie Kelly, the Maine director for the U.S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. Kelly, a U.S. Navy veteran, served as a medical service corps officer in both stateside and overseas duty. She then was assigned to the Naval Branch Health Clinic at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.

– Joanne McMahon is an occupational health clinical instructor for the CAN and Diversified Health Program at Region Ten Technical High School, also in Brunswick.

McMahon is a retired Navy nurse corps officer, whose service included being a staff nurse and a charge nurse. After retiring from BNAS as manager of the Acute Care Clinic, she became co-chair of Veterans No Boundaries, a program of Maine Adaptive Sports and Recreation, which provides adaptive recreational opportunities to disabled veterans and their families free of charge.

– Steven Wallace, president and executive director of the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber of Commerce, is a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps whose tours of duty included seven major deployments, three of which were combat tours. His personal awards include the Combat Aircrew Insignia with a bronze star, Aircrew Insignia, Meritorious Service Medal with a gold star, Air Medal with Strike/Flight Numeral One, Navy Commendation Medal with two gold stars, and Navy Achievement Medal with three gold stars. He also served in units that received more than 20 additional citations, including the Presidential Unit Citation for the initial phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Bath YMCA offering free use for veterans

BATH — On Monday, Nov. 11, the Bath Area Family YMCA will be free to all veterans and their immediate families.

The hours of the Y are 5 a.m.-8:30 p.m. For more information, call 443-4112 or www.bathymca.org.