'You are not forgotten'
<span>EDITOR'S NOTE: Chester's Veterans Day service occurred Wednesday after the Herald Tribune went to press. See coverage of the event in the newspaper's Nov. 20 edition. More Veterans Day coverage is in this week's print edition, online (www.randolphcountyheraldtribune.com) and on the Herald Tribune's Facebook page.</span>
<span>Veterans Day officially took place on Wednesday, with areas around the region observing the day of remembrance before and during the day itself.</span>
<span>St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Steeleville held a chapel service on Tuesday with Veterans and St. Mark's Lutheran School students in attendance.</span>
<span>After the service, St. Mark's Lutheran School hosted a program that honored 26 local Veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan conflicts.</span>
<span>"They fought the fight in two kingdoms to protect you and they too wore the Armor of God," said retired Capt. Craig Muehler, director of Lutheran Church Missouri Senate (LCMS) Ministry to the Armed Forces, to the students during Tuesday's chapel service.</span>
<span>Muehler was also the featured speaker at St. Mark's ceremony. Muehler was installed by the LCMS in September 2014, succeeding retiring Chaplain Mark J. Schreiber, and is a trained chaplain with the rank of captain.</span>
<span>"God used you to protect and serve our country," he told the Veterans in attendance.</span>
<span>As part of the ceremony, St. Mark's Lutheran students sang "I am in the Lord's Army," "America, America," "I love the USA," and "This Land is Your Land."</span>
<span>The short program concluded with "God Bless America." Musical accompaniment was performed by Ann Luedders, with the welcome given by school administrator and Athletic Director Larry Luedders.</span>
<span>Tuesday's ceremony wasn't the only Steeleville event, as the United Ironworkers complex hosted a raising of the world's largest Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag last Saturday.</span>
<span>The 45x75-foot flag, which cost $9,000 and six months to make, was made at U.S. Flag and Flagpole Services in Texas.</span>
<span>Military Veterans, members of the public and representatives from area American Legion and VFW posts were in attendance at the ceremony.</span>
<span>The flag was commissioned by United Ironworkers President Kim Rasnick and is actually three flags in one so that the image looks right on both sides.</span>
<span>A video of the ceremony, posted to the Herald Tribune's Facebook page, had received more than 400 likes, 15,000 views and 550 shares as of the newspaper's press deadline. It was even shared by the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.</span>
<span>"I am real surprised," Rasnick told the Herald Tribune of the reaction to the event. "I was really shocked. I thought there would be 15 to 20 people who would show up (for the ceremony) and we got 150 people.</span>
<span>"Then there's everybody liking and sharing (the video) online."</span>
<span>Rasnick said he hopes to make the flag raising ceremony an annual event as part of the Veterans Day observance to honor all Veterans and those who have yet to make it home.</span>
<span>The flag will be flown five other times during the year - Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day (June 14), Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day (third Friday in September) and Veterans Day.</span>
<span>"It it can bring us all closer together as Americans, it's well worth it," he said.</span>
<span>The Steeleville American Legion also hosted its annual Veterans Breakfast on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Coverage of that event is included in this week's print edition.</span>
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