Veteran’s Day was observed on Thursday November 10 in the Parish, complete with both a parade for veterans and a ceremony to publicly recognize their sacrifices.

This Veterans day—the holiday created out of Armistice Day and celebrating the end of the first World War—also commemorates the 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

At the Parade held that Thursday, along side the Veterans, were members of the Trist Middle School band and several other student organizations. All made their way from the breakfast meeting in the Mall on W. Judge Perez to the memorial outside Sigur Civic Center.

After the parade, the gathering was relocated to inside the Fredric Sigur Civic Center.

The guest speaker for the event was Lt. Col. David Dysart, formerly with marine intelligence, and who served as Civil Military Advisor to Marine forces during Hurricane Katrina, was also a critical part of the response force after the BP spill.

Dysart now serves in the current administration in St. Bernard Parish Government as the interim Chief Administrative Officer.

For his part of the ceremony, Dysart addressed the assembled crowd of veterans, residents, politicians and children, nestled inside the sigur center to escape the morning’s 12-degree cold.

“We call this a holiday, but for many vets it’s another day of memories and wounds, for our soldiers, it’s another day in harms way,” Dysart said.

Ceremonial pins were given to each veteran present, and their name read aloud At the close, a ceremonial wreath was laid at the base of the memorial outside the sigur center, in honor of those from each branch of the service who died in battle.

“We come again to say ‘Thank you,’ and we owe them a thank you we can never repay,” Dysart said.