HES Memorial Day Assembly #HartlandVT #VT

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May 26, 2015
Hartland VT

Hartland Elementary School hosted a Memorial Day Assembly. The students invited veterans from American Legion Post 48 to join them. Post 48 Chaplain Mike Heaney said the post member chose to honor Leon Coolidge Royce, a 90 year old World War II Marine as this years honoree.
Royce, born in Hartland in 1924, attend Hartland Elementary School when it was located at the now, Hartland Recreation Center. He loved baseball and played short stop for Windsor High School. During WW II, he served in the Island Campaign spending time at the Marshall Islands, Guam and Iwo Jima. He returned to the area and was coach for Windsor High School Baseball taking the team to State Championships in 1960 and 1975. His students honored him with a signed bat that he brought to the ceremony.

The assembly included music by the HES Band, the 6th and 7th Grade Chorus and a solo of "God Bless America" by Samantha Gibbs. The event concluded with a speech by Rusty Sachs, a Marine Helicopter pilot living in Norwich who spoke to the students about what Memorial Day means to him.
The veterans and members of Pack 235 moved outside and conducted a ceremonial burning of old flags that had been collected from the cemeteries in town and also flags that the town's residents brought to be properly destroyed. Chaplain Heaney said a prayer, there was a gun salute and students from HES played "Taps."




HES Memorial Day Assembly
Hartland Elementary School
American Legion Post 48
Hartland , VT May 26, 2015
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