Community

Veterans Day committee adapts with drive-in event

The Gig Harbor Veterans Recognition Committee had hoped to pack guests into a Tacoma Narrows Airport hangar Thursday for its “Respect and Remember Our Veterans” ceremony, but for the second straight year, health restrictions are preventing large gatherings in enclosed spaces. So it’s back to Plan B.

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The band plays during last year’s event. Photo courtesy of Gig Harbor Veterans Day Committee

For the second year, it’ll be a drive-in event at the HomeGoods parking lot of Uptown Shopping Center. Some 225 slots will be roped off for people to park and listen to the show on their car radios or stream it from devices. Registration is required, at bit.ly/gigharborveteransday2021.

“This year we wanted to go back and get 300 people in the hangar (where the ceremony was held two years ago), but we couldn’t do it because of COVID,” said committee chairman Joe Loya.

Beneath a tent top, Navy Band Northwest will warm up the crowd beginning at 11:30 a.m., followed by a short patriotic video. At noon, the program will be turned over to host Greg Copeland, KING-5 TV newscaster and 1990 Peninsula High School graduate.

Last year’s Veterans Day event also had to be held outside. Photo courtesy of Gig Harbor Veterans Day Committee

“When the organizers asked me to do this I was really honored,” Copeland said. “I was raised in Gig Harbor and I have a special place in my heart for veterans because quite a few people in my family are vets. So this is a way I can give back to the community I love. And it’s a privilege to be able to talk with the veterans and have them share their stories with us. Veterans Day is really all about them.”

Presentations will be made to Navy Capt. Richard Rhinehart, retired former commander of Naval Base Kitsap, and retired Navy Capt. Richard Genet, former commander of the guided missile cruiser USS Sterett and a founder of the Veterans Day committee.

The keynote speaker will be Jim Coolican, who many may know as a former Peninsula School District superintendent. Before that, however, he was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions as a Marine Corps captain during the Vietnam War.

Copeland will introduce and interview the honored guests — six local World War II veterans and Hugh McMillan, a retired CIA agent, and longtime community activist and education reporter.

“They’re all in their late ’90s, so we wanted to do this for them,” Loya said.

The color guard at last year’s Veterans Day event. Photo courtesy of Gig Harbor Veterans Day Committee

Guests can begin arriving at 10 a.m. Volunteers will usher them to a parking spot and deliver flags for them to wave if they need anything, thank you posters, raffle tickets for veterans and free lunches from BBQ2U.

“We plan to feed 240 people,” Loya said. “That’s pretty cool. That’s where our sponsors come in. We’d rather do it inside, but under the current restrictions … We’ll go back in the hangar next year and try to put in 300.”

To listen or watch the ceremony, attendees (or anybody else) can dial up KGHP 89.9 FM, go to facebookcom/gigharborveteransday and use a QR code, or go to YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6j0eEzL2ZY.

Boy Scouts holding ceremony at Skansie Park

Boy Scout Troop 282 will host its annual Veterans Day ceremony Thursday at 11 a.m. on the Skansie Park waterfront. The program will include a presentation of historic flags, distinguished speaker, flag retirement ceremony, scout honor guard and three-volley salute. Refreshments will be served after the ceremony.