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Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 2:42 AM
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200 gather for Veterans Day

Leelanau County veterans were feted Monday by more than 200 residents in a ceremony filled by patriotic music, prayer from a Glen Arbor pastor, and a call for change by VFW member and Vietnam War veteran Gene Kelly.
Standing by the remembrance wreath are Leelanau County veterans Gene Kelly, master of ceremonies, D-Day soldier Dick Grout and Vietnam War soldier Steve Stanton. See more coverage on Pg. 6. Courtesy photo

Leelanau County veterans were feted Monday by more than 200 residents in a ceremony filled by patriotic music, prayer from a Glen Arbor pastor, and a call for change by VFW member and Vietnam War veteran Gene Kelly.

Kelly asked Americans on Veterans Day to “confess out loud” that the United States is good. He drew a comparison to eagles who soar above insolent smaller birds that seek to bother them.

“We are the best country in the world,” Kelly said. “Only by living the American attitude can we overcome outsiders causing conflict because we are united as Americans. We help each other to soar like eagles above the sniping.”

He continued, “Stop the gossip on Facebook. Americans must rise above that sniping similar to the eagle rising above to soar where others can’t go. We cannot continue to slander each other and think that anything good will come from it. Let the garbage die.”

Others having moments at the microphone included singers Rachel Amalfitano (“Star Spangled Banner”) and Lauren Cypher (“God Bless America”); veteran and Suttons Bay resident Neal Horning, who led the Pledge of Allegiance; and pastor Jim Nieheiser of Glen Arbor Bethlehem Lutheran Church, who provided the invocation.

Nieheiser recited a passage from the Apostle John, who wrote, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

“It can mean that a man or a woman makes a decision to join the United States Armed Services and lay down their life for two, four, six, eight years, or maybe a career, for the sake of their fellow Americans,” Nieheiser said. “We are here to thank the men and women of the Armed Services, as they have made and continue to make sacrifices for Americans like us. Truth be told, it doesn’t seem to be enough for the sacrifi ces you’ve made.”

The VFW Honor Guard concluded the ceremony with a 21-gun salute in the parking lot, followed by “Taps” played by cornetist Pete Ostrowski.

Members of Eagletown American Legion Post 120 also participated in the ceremony. Among attendees were 14 students from Leelanau Montessori Public School Academy.

And occupying a seat in the front row was Dick Grout, one of the few remaining combat veterans who participated in D-Day. Grout recently turned 104-years-old.



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