Help celebrate Veterans Day locally
By Heather Milo
T.O. Acorn Staff Writer

Veterans Day this year in the Conejo Valley promises to be a great deal more than just a parade.

Veterans and those who appreciate them are invited to celebrate Veterans Day at Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks with the nationwide organization, "A Touch of Home."

Working with the Military Order of World Wars of Ventura County, A Touch of Home is hosting a fundraising event in the park, which is located behind the Thousand Oaks Library on Janss Road. The day’s activities will include military ceremonies, live entertainment and a barbeque open to the public.

Families with children of all ages are encouraged to attend. A Jolly Jump is being provided for children by the VFW post. Military hardware will be on display as well. Ventura County’s Navy Colonel Paul Grossgold is a keynote speaker for the ceremonies, which will feature a 21-gun salute.

Forrest Frields, co-chair for A Touch of Home, said that a fly-over by the Condor Squadron, a group of civilians who have fully restored vintage WWII aircraft, will be part of the ceremonies. The squadron usually flies in a formation of nine planes. The planes are restored right down to the nuts and bolts their enormous engines.

"The bass from the engines throbbing—you can feel it," Frields said.

The event also is an opportunity to retire old, worn-out American flags. Frields said that the event’s planning committee has collected approximately 150 such flags already. People attending the event might bring additional flags. The flags will be collected at the ceremony, then suitably escorted to a hearse. From there, they will be taken to Pierce Bros. Crematorium and burned in a private ceremony.

The Conejo Creek Veterans Day event begins at 11 a.m. The time is significant as it represents the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. The date was first recognized when an unknown World War I American soldier was buried at this exact time in Arlington National Cemetery in 1921. Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each of those country’s highest place of honor: in England, Westminster Abbey; and in France, the Arc de Triomphe.

The memorial gestures all took place on Nov. 11. They were designed to give universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting, which occurred at 11 a.m., Nov. 11, 1918.

The day became known as Armistice Day.

Following World War II and Korea, Congress turned Nov. 11 into a day in honor for all Americans who fought in foreign wars. The name was changed to Veterans Day.

The Conejo Creek Park ceremonies and entertainment are free of charge and open to the public, but a barbeque fundraiser afterwards costs $10 a person, with children under 10 free.

A Touch of Home raises funds to allow packages to be sent to naval servicemen and women overseas. The campaign fast became so successful that the Department of Defense requested A Touch of Home to stop sending packages, as space taken on ships by the packages was needed to transport official supplies.

In order to continue their support, A Touch of Home switched its efforts to only supplying postage for the care packages, so that families and friends could send them instead.

"Postage is much easier," said Frields.

The organization has already raised $6,000 this year. They are looking for new recipients of care packages, as almost all of Ventura County’s navy personnel have been pulled out of ports overseas. A Touch of Home is considering helping out the Army Relief Fund.

For more information, call Frields at 805-496-2255.

While Nov. 11 celebratory events are important, there also are other opportunities for people to show their care.

Jerry Serota, a long-standing member of Thousand Oaks Elks Lodge No. 2477, said his lodge hosts veterans from the VA hospital once a month. The lodge holds a bingo party and then takes the veterans out for lunch.

"It’s to break up the monotony of the same old thing," Serota said.

The Elks lodge conducts veteran-related activities year-round. This month the organization bussed veterans to the lodge from the hospital’s nursing home for a Veterans Day brunch Nov. 2.