Schools mark Flag Day: 'We remember'
Victoria E. Freile
Staff writer
(June 14, 2006) — GREECE (NY) — Nearly 1,000 people gathered around the flagpole at Northwood Elementary School this morning, to honor veterans and families with loved ones in the military.
Also today – Flag Day – students and staff at the Hilton Central School District marked the national holiday by recognizing local veterans and military personnel in the community currently serving overseas.
Attendees also honored Spc. Jason Hasenauer of Hilton, who was killed in December in Afghanistan. Several members of the Hasenauer family attended the event.
"Jason Hasenauer was someone who understood what it meant to defend and serve our country," said Rev. Walter Steenson of Hilton, a chaplain major in the U.S. Army Reserves who recently returned from Qatar.
"Today we remember and love you," he said.
Hasenauer's parents, Dan and Rita Hasenauer, said they were touched by the ceremony and ongoing support of the community. "I know Jay is smiling today," Dan Hasenauer said after the event.
Northwood fifth-grader Sarah Haungs, 11, she thought it was important to remember military personnel – like Hasenauer – who had given their lives.
"Many people don't make Flag Day a big celebration, but we need to remember the people who died," she said.
That little girl gets it.
Source: Democrat & Chronicle
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