The Menlo Park Senior Center hosted its annual “Celebrating Our Local Heroes,” a Veterans Day luncheon, on Thursday, November 13th. A crowd of over 70 seniors and students filled the Senior Center dining hall to hear the seven local veterans, Mr. Lee Minnis, Mr. Fredrick Dutch, Mr. Roger Frey, Mr. Clinton Stanton, Mr. William Jackson, Mr. James McAdoo, and Ms. Eddiowens Gill share their heroic stories from their time spent in various wars. In addition to the memories shared, on display was an impressive array of memorabilia, photos, and outfits worn brought in by the veterans.

This year’s celebration also brought in a group of enthusiastic 8th graders from Beechwood School who were eager to hear all the details from those who experienced it firsthand. As a follow up, the students will be expanding on what they learned through this oral history project by writing poems and creating art work which will be on display at the Senior Center. At the event’s closing, Avideh Yaghmai Samardar, the Senior Programs Supervisor, thanked each veteran for their acts of courage and dedication, and presented them with tokens of appreciation for their participation in this project.