Photo by Becky Polaski Elk County Commissioner Ron Beimel was the guest speaker during the guest speaker for the Veterans Day Memorial Service held on the Diamond in St. Marys on Wednesday morning.

By Becky Polaski

Staff Writer

Elk County Commissioner Ron Beimel was the guest speaker for the annual Veterans Day Memorial Service held in St. Marys on Wednesday morning.

Master of ceremonies, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Straub, introduced Beimel, stating that he served in the Pennsylvania National Guard and is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps having served in the Vietnam era.

Beimel began by stating that Veterans Day is a day for more than simply remembering.

“It is a time for considering what our veterans of the nations wars, from the Revolution down to the present, have meant to the preservation and the enhancement of our national and individual freedom and independence,” Beimel said. “Regrettably it is very easy to forget the roles our relatives, our neighbors, our friends and millions of other veterans we have never known have played in time of national crisis.”

According to Beimel, Veterans Day is a time when individuals are called upon to honor the men and women who, in time of trial, rallied to their nations call.

“Today there are approximately 28 million men and women who have worn American military uniforms. Some 23 million of them served this country and the calls of man’s freedom in time of war. They are the survivors,” Beimel said. “Think for a moment of the vast number who never came home but who paid the supreme sacrifice on land, on the sea, and in the air. Consider too the servicemen seriously wounded and permanently disabled, many of whom are hospitalized after long years.”

Beimel also quoted Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was President of the United States during World War II, and General Sherman, who led the Union’s march through Georgia to Atlanta during the Civil War, in his discussion on the perils of war.

“It is important, yes, and it is our duty that we gather here today and pay tribute to our veterans both living and dead that served our country to preserve our freedom,” Beimel concluded.

Beimel, a native of St. Marys who was raised in Kersey, graduated from Kersey High School and attended Clarion University. He is a past commander of Fox American Legion Post 511, a previous coach of the Fox American Legion Baseball Team, and a current volunteer driver for the DAV van, driving veterans to Erie, Altoona and other locations for their hospital appointments. Beimel is also a previous Elk County Auditor and in the past served one term as Elk County Commissioner before being elected to his present term. He is and his wife Margie are the proud parents of six children.