FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 5, 2018

Media Contacts:
Anna Long
(651) 757-1536
(651) 263-2640 cell
anna.long@state.mn.us

WHAT :

The Official State of Minnesota Veterans Day Program is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, November 11 at the Veterans Memorial Community Center in Inver Grove Heights. The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs invites Veterans, families, elected officials and community members to celebrate and honor all Veterans who have served this country. This year’s program will have a special focus on the Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice that ended WWI. This year’s program will conclude with the nation-wide Tolling of the Bell at 11 a.m. In remembrance of those who served and sacrificed, Americans across the nation will ring bells at exactly the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

The program will also feature a keynote address by Nancy O'Brien Wagner, author of “Alice in France: The World War I Letters of Alice M. O’Brien.” Her book focuses on the engaging and revealing letters of her great aunt who, with thousands of others, volunteered for service in World War I Europe.

On display at the event will be the Minnesota Military Museum’s 30 foot WWI America mural depicting 100 notable individuals from the era. Recently completed by local Veteran David Geister, it was inspired by an even larger, century-old painting at the National WWI Museum in Kansas City.  Artifacts from WWI will also be on site to view and Freedom Flight, Inc. will have a Prisoners of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) hot air balloon displayed at the event (weather permitting).  A free community breakfast will be served from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. prior to the start of the program at 10 a.m.

To help Minnesotans commemorate Veterans Day in their communities, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs has also compiled a list of Veterans Day Events happening around Minnesota.

WHO :

Speakers and Program Participants:

• Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Larry Shellito 
• Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Chief of Staff Mike McElhiney 
• Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen 
• Remarks from members of the Congressional Delegation
• Inver Grove Heights Mayor George Tourville 
• 34th Infantry Division Red Bull Band
• Minnesota Military Museum Executive Director Randal Dietrich
• Author Nancy O’Brien Wagner
• Chaplain Lt. Col. Daniel Pulju
• Vocalist Tech. Sgt. Jessica Lewellen
• Inver Grove Heights Firefighter & U.S. Navy Veteran Dan Bernardy
  

WHEN :

Sunday, November 11, 2018
8:30 – 9:30 a.m.  – Free Community Breakfast
10 – 11 a.m. - Program

WHERE:

Veterans Memorial Community Center
8055 Barbara Avenue
Inver Grove Heights, MN 55077