Natchitoches Central High School held its annual Veterans’ Day program honoring our community’s veterans on Monday, November 11. The entire student body gathered in the school’s main gym and participated in the event. The veterans were treated to breakfast in the NCHS cafeteria after which they were escorted into the gym by NCHS JROTC cadets. Veterans of each military branch were led by a cadet carrying their service’s flag as student musicians played the service’s song. The NCHS cadet corps was on hand in dress uniforms to present the colors, perform for the crowd, introduce the speakers, organize, and run the program. The student musicians of the NCHS band, choir, and orchestra did their customary superb job, playing a selection of patriotic pieces throughout the program. The NCHS spirit groups also performed.
NCHS Army JROTC Instructor Maor Duane Bailey welcomed everyone. The guest speaker, Navy veteran Wayne Edmondson, is no stranger to NCHS. He came to NCHS with 14 years of teaching experience in Rapides parish and is in his first year of teaching civics and psychology at Natchitoches Central. He gave a humorous and relatable talk on his experiences as a submariner.
Like previous years’ speakers, NCHS and West Point alumna Alyssa Milner and NCHS and NSU Army ROTC alumni Jeremy Miller, he is an example of someone with local roots who went on to achieve and serve.
Two of the young men in the audience are part of what Sir Winston Churchill referred to as “the long continuity of our institutions.” PFC Dalton Augustine and PFC Nicholas Egans, 2023 and 2024 NCHS alumni, attended the program with Staff Sergeant Isaiah Gunn, their USMC recruiter. They are home on leave after finishing, and excelling, at Marine Corps Recruit Training. They were joined at the ceremony by fellow Marines Wybrita County, mother of several NCHS alumni, Charlie Davis, Vietnam veteran and 1964 Central High alumni, and Korean War veteran Red Lapeyrouse.
The Natchitoches Central High School community is to be commended for the superb job they did in presenting this student-run program. The cadets did a wonderful job of organizing and presenting the event. The musicians of the orchestra, choir and band are incredibly talented young men and women as are the spirit groups. The student body’s decorum is truly remarkable.
The NCHS Veterans’ Day Program is a wonderful example of small-town life at its best. Thank you for inviting me.
