The University of Toledo honors veterans at breakfast

On November 11, the University of Toledo held the Twelfth Annual Veterans Appreciation Breakfast and Resource Fair in Savage Arena. The Breakfast was followed by the unveiling of markers outside Memorial Field House at the Veterans Memorial Plaza.

Attending the breakfast were World War II veterans Army Sergeant Richard Perry, UT professor Emeritus, and Private First Class David Schwartz who were awarded the French Legion of Honor, the highest award that can be bestowed by the French government. The award was presented to them by Vincent Floreani, the Consul General of the Consulate of France, in Chicago.

“You were ready to sacrifice your young lives for France’s freedom, for a country that was not your own,” Floreani said. “It [French Legion of Honor] is the highest honor that France can bestow upon those who have achieved remarkable deeds for France.”

Lucas County Sheriff, John Tharp, a Vietnam veteran who received the Bronze Star for his service as a combat medic, was the keynote speaker at the event. Being elected Sheriff was a culmination of his 25 year career spent in various departments with the Toledo Police Division.

“In the military, we learn loyalty, duty, respect, honor, integrity. But all those values that we learn from our families and the military… From all those values, the most important value that we have is personal courage. Personal courage is about doing what’s necessary,” Tharp said during his address.

The resource fair included stalls set up around the hall, featuring many organizations to let veterans know of the resources available to them. The organizations included Veterans Matter, which helps veterans find housing, Mobile Meals, which helps provide meals to veterans, The Arms Forces which helps veterans afflicted of brain injuries or PTSD, and several others.

“The resource fair is an opportunity to have resources in one spot,” said Peggy A. Holewinski, Gift Officer at the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Roosevelt Russel, a Vietnam-era veteran who served in the United States Air Force was a first-time attendee of the breakfast, and said he felt overwhelmed by the event.

“It brought back a lot of memories and there were a number of my friends who were not in the air force, who went in other branches, and did not come back from Vietnam,” Russel said.

After the breakfast and resource fair, UT unveiled new Gold Star memorial and Blue Star memorial markers at the UT Veterans Memorial Plaza, an area between Memorial Field House and University Hall that honors individuals and groups who served in the U.S. military.

“I wanted to make sure that we honored our Gold Star and Blue Star families who sacrificed so much,” said Navy Reserve Lieutenant Haraz N. Ghanbari, director of military and veteran services at UT. “This also puts our plaza on the national registry for the Blue Star and Gold Star memorial markers. It’s a way that we can kind of tie everything together and really honor our service members.”

The event was sponsored by UT, Lucas County Commissioners, Lucas County Veteran’s Service Commission, American Red Cross of Northwest Ohio, Columbia Gas and Fifth Third Bank.

Holewinski said that this event is important because it allows the community a chance to remember, a chance to talk to each other and be able to have the remembrance of those who have fallen.

“It’s important for us to be able to pay tribute. It’s important for us to be involved in it and so we’ve done it every year,” Holewinski said.