Wesley has a long tradition of honoring veterans. Each campus holds special activities and programs to celebrate Veterans Day.
Wesley at Tehaleh helps resident veterans celebrate with a free meal on Veterans Day. A local band, Paul Lusack and the Shadows, provide a concert. Throughout the year, the community’s Veterans Wall displays photos of these honored residents.
Wesley Des Moines has a breakfast buffet for the community’s resident and staff veterans. In the afternoon, the ActingяAge theater group puts on a skit.
Wesley Lea Hill’s veterans create an exhibit of their memorabilia for their fellow residents and visitors to view.
In addition to the Wall of Valor that features veteran residents all year round, Wesley Bradley Park has a day full of activities to honor the resident veterans. Their day of celebration begins with a breakfast for veterans and their spouses. Each veteran receives Honored Veteran and poppy flower pins to wear. The day continues with a Veterans Day ceremony featuring Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 56th Army Band, a.k.a. America’s First Corps Band, and Color Guard. The day ends with a military movie.
Missing Man Table
Wesley Bradley Park also has a Missing Man Table to remind us of fallen, missing, or imprisoned U.S. military service members. Each item on the table represents the emotions and feelings reserved for those who did not come home and symbolizes they are with us in spirit:
- The round table shows our everlasting concern for our missing service members.
- The white cloth symbolizes the purity of their motives when answering the call to serve.
- The single red rose in a vase reminds us of the lives of these Americans, their loved ones and their friends who keep the faith while seeking answers.
- The red ribbon symbolizes our continued determination to account for our missing.
- A slice of lemon reminds us of their bitter fate: captured and missing in a foreign land.
- A pinch of salt symbolizes the tears of our missing and their families who long for answers after decades of uncertainty.
- The lighted candle reflects our hope for their return, alive or dead.
- The Bible represents the strength gained through faith to sustain us and those lost from our country, founded as one nation under God.
- The inverted glass symbolizes their inability to share a toast.
- The empty chair is the seat that remains unclaimed at the table.
All Americans should remember the brave men and women who answered our nation’s call to serve and fought for our freedom with honor.