The Lexington Middle School conducted their own Veterans Day Program on Wednesday with students, faculty and veterans filling the auditorium. The program included patriotic decorations, anthems, readings and multimedia presentations by students. Several community organizations also participated. The speakers included World War II veteran Dean Weissert and Iraqi War Veteran Ann Ercoli. Both recounted their personal experiences during military service.

Audience members listened intently as Dean Weissert spoke about the invasion of France. The 92-year-old was among soldiers on boats, that held as many as a couple hundred troops, that landed on Normandy in 1944. He described it as a rainy, cloudy and foggy day. They couldn't attack initially because of mines in the water. It took engineers a couple of hours to clear the waters of the mines before they could continue their attack. The troops spent that time circling their battleships in their boats. When they landed, Weissert described troops running "up the hill" with "artillery bursting everywhere". He added that there were three things they had to contend with in their attack...machine gun fire, artillery shells and land mines. He said he saw a lot of soldiers step on land mines.

Ann Ercoli, a Lexington alum and Sgt. in the Army Reserves, addressed the students on the topic of women in the military. She admonished the girls in the audience to "don't let people tell you, you can not do it because you're a woman. Because you can do anything a man can do. You have to build your courage up. Put your foot down. When a male goes 'Oh, you can't do this' say 'Yes I can. Let me prove to you I can do this!'". She said her unit was like family and they did everything together. At times, the men were overprotective of the women in the unit and stood up for them, she continued. Ercoli drew some laughs in the audience when she add that "it can be great sometimes but, it can be really annoying at other times." Ercoli was a heavy equipment operator in Iraq from 2003-2005. She loaded shipping containers onto trucks and was also a combat medic. She says she loves the military, grew up around it and knew she wanted to be a soldier since she was a little kid.

Student Katelin Schultze read from an essay she wrote on the subject of Veteran's Day...

"Because of our military heroes I live in safety. Military troops have provided protection for centuries.

When you take time to recognize these special individuals, we should all praise and honor our military every day."

"Military troops give up so much for us. They leave their daily routines and their families to fight for our freedom. Many military personnel never return home. This is why we should honor them daily."

Other groups participating in the program were the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Daughters of the American Revolution organization, the VFW Auxiliary and Patriot Guard Riders.

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