BY ANITA STIEFEL AND HANNAH GOLDFINGER | EDITOR@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
OPELIKA — The city of Opelika celebrated Veterans Day with veterans, their families, the city council and residents.
Veteran and Ward 3 Council Member Tim Aja was invited to speak during this year’s ceremony.
“Opelika has got around 1,900 veterans in it, which comprises just under 10% of our over-18 population,” Aja said. “And just for a little bit of relative numbers, the national average for veterans in any particular area is about 6.4%, so our area has got a greater percentage of veterans.”
Aja said he has loved serving the city on the council.
He focused a bit on the history of Veterans Day, when it was still called Armistice Day. The day originally focused on recognizing the end of World War I and its heroes.
“We are here today to honor and thank [our] veterans,” Aja said. “It is well understood they put their lives on the line to fulfill the notes of the constitution for the country they love. What is not always so well understood, or articulated, are the experiences and affects the military had on that individual. Today, I hope to cover some of those.
“It is my belief and hope that we’ll demonstrate that, although we have decades of veteran experience across this world and this room alone, there’s baseline commonalities that bind all who serve and all who will serve.”
First, Aja described serving as a privilege, despite the challenges and the missed time with family. Second, he said there were many experiences only a veteran can have — exciting and rare ones. Third, he said the military grows discipline in veterans. The military also changes veterans in other ways, Aja said, from creating more sober individuals to emotional changes. He said many veterans firmly believe in God because of their military experiences.
“Veterans, don’t let your stories go untold — make sure your family knows your history,” he said. “Again, thank you for the opportunity to speak today and veterans, thank you for your service.”
Following Aja’s speech, John Sweatman of the Opelika Economic Development recognized another local veteran, Robert Wilson, who was presented a proclamation and award.
AUBURN — An overflow crowd turned out for the city of Auburn’s 2023 Veterans Day Ceremony on Friday, Nov. 10.
Originally set to be held at the Auburn Veterans Memorial Monument, located at the northeast corner of Ross Street and Glenn Avenue, inclement weather moved the event down the block, inside the Auburn City Council chambers.
To open the ceremony, the Auburn High School JROTC color guard presented the flag, and the East Samford School Choir, under the direction of Chris Deason, sang the national anthem.
Pastor Jeff Damron from Union Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) delivered the invocation.
“Almighty God… we lift up thankful hearts this morning, and we honor this day before you our veterans, the worthy men and women who in the day of decision gave the best they had when they were called upon to serve and to protect our nation,” Damron said. “Bless them abundantly for the hardships they faced and for the sacrifices they made and for their courage in confronting the forces of tyranny and oppression. We are proud of them, we respect them, we honor them and we thank them.”
Mayor Ron Anders officiated the ceremony.
“Originally known as Armistice Day, we celebrate Veterans Day … in remembrance of the day fighting ceased during World War I,” Anders said. “While it was regarded at the time as ‘the war to end all wars,’ our nation has entered into many other conflicts since that day of peace in 1918.
“Since that day, so many Americans, including many of you that are here today, answered the call to defend and to protect this nation. So, today we join with communities across the United States to honor all of our nation’s veterans, who put their country above themselves, responding to the call to serve.”
Anders said he was proud to introduce one of these individuals, this year’s featured speaker, U.S. Army veteran Drew Lufkin, president of the Auburn Student Veterans Association (ASVA). Lufkin spent 15 years as an Army ranger, completing four combat deployments, including three in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. After military retirement, Lufkin found his way to Auburn and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2019. For the last four years, he has worked on developing an autonomous driving software package for 18-wheelers. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in finance.
“I graduated high school about three months before Sept. 11,” Lufkin told the crowd. “I remember being in high school and [thinking] we’re never going to have to go to war, all that stuff is over with.
“So, I originally joined the Army reserves to get money for college, I’ll be straight-up honest with you. And three months later, some guys flew some planes in our World Trade Center and … it filled me with resolve and made me very, very angry. I said, ‘You know what, there are bad guys out there and they’re not going to canoe their own heads, so they need people to do that for them,’ and that’s what I had to do.
“God had a different plan for me, because the next year I ended up getting Leukaemia, and I spent two and a half years on chemo. That life event really got me ready for everything I was going to go through later. I think that nothing tells you who you are and what you do like going through a hardship. It got me ready for walking through the mountains of Afghanistan with a hundred plus pounds of gear on my back.
“I think that there are a lot of emotions when it comes to Veterans Day, because it’s a lot of memories for me. It’s very personal to me. I gained a lot of friends along the way… and I lost a lot of friends along the way who are always going to stay with me whether I want them to or not. And I think that every veteran is that way.
“So, what’s Veterans Day for? It’s to recognize and honor veterans … but also to recognize that we as a community have a responsibility to make sure they’re still doing okay.”
Calling attention to the “crowd participation” part of the program, he asked the audience members to get out their cell phones.
“I want everybody to pull out their phones … If there’s one thing you take away from Veterans Day I want it to be this point right here: Everybody knows a veteran, everybody has a veteran’s phone number, what I want you to is to text them right now … let them know that ‘Hey, you know what, I’m thinking about you.’ Let them know, send a message that says unequivocally that somebody cares about them.
“And this doesn’t just have to happen on Veterans Day, okay? This doesn’t take very long, it only takes, like, 5 minutes. So, take that idea home with you and give it to somebody else. Have [them] text a veteran and say, ‘Hey I want to talk to you today, I want you to be here tomorrow.’”
Lufkin said in 2018, the ASVA started Operation Iron Ruck, in which the Iron Bowl game ball is marched 151 miles by foot each year from the visiting team’s campus to the home team’s campus. Ruck participants make the trek wearing backpacks full of personal items that will be donated to veterans, such as toiletry items and snacks.
“We started Iron Ruck to recognize and bring awareness to the epidemic that is veteran suicide,” Lufkin explained. “A lot of veterans are having a hard time. They get out and they miss that comraderie, they miss the structure that the military gives them, they miss their friends. It’s hard for us to be able to relate to other people sometimes.”
Anders thanked Lufkin for his comments and reiterated the point, “Every day is a good day to thank a veteran.”
The East Samford School Choir closed the ceremony with a performance of “Land That We Love.”
Bagpiper Dan Drummond, a U.S. Navy veteran, performed “Amazing Grace” as the crowd dispersed.
During a pause in the rain showers, former Assistant Police Chief and U.S. Army veteran Clarence Stewart, who now works as vice president for campus security at AU, joined Anders in placing a wreath at the Veterans Memorial site.
The Auburn Chamber of Commerce hosted a reception immediately following the event.
PHOTOS BY ROBERT NOLES AND ANITA STIEFEL