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Through the week we’ll see reminders of what a special time of year it truly is – when we celebrate our veterans! We’ll see sale flyers, commercials on TV, posts on social media outlets and street signs as a nice public display of affection to our service men and women; so, kudos to all who promote that. However, in addition to that, I ask you to seek out something else first: the faces of service members who stand beneath their service branch ball caps and inside their t-shirts that boast our American flag, American bald eagle, a kneeling soldier and quotes about sacrifice, bravery and giving ALL.

Veteran’s Day is such a significant and precious time of year when we conscientiously think about our veterans and our active-duty service members whether deployed or stateside, retired and most certainly our wounded warriors. This is important folks – our service members who have “been there and done that” are tough, resilient, determined and they are superheroes to all of us.

Dare County is a veteran friendly county and our number of permanent residents or property owners who are veterans would astound you. Our veteran community is strong and growing exponentially – after all, who wouldn’t want to live here? We love our vets and our vets love each other! We collectively promote and acknowledge our veterans because they are worthy to be praised! Old, seasoned veterans who have countless recollections of facing potential loss of their own life or the possibility of having to take someone else’s; hope that vital, necessary supplies will hold out; that our communications and signals make it to their intended destination; that the sand, water, mud and other elements won’t affect the ability for machinery, hardware and weapons to function or fire as needed and that prayers on the bended knees of our troops asking divine intervention, protection and courage to see the task through and get the job done, no matter how difficult. Yes, our veterans are far, far and beyond.

In the days to come there will be annual events that pull at your heartstrings. The ceremonies at the Veteran’s Monuments and Memorials, seeing the ole red, white and blue adorning the graves of our bravest, the Veteran’s Writing Project and so much more created in our veteran’s honor. A mere snippet of what you deserve – sweet public acknowledgement.

As I stated in last week’s Gig Line, veteran related events are advertised through various sources which you may have seen already; if not, if you have access to a computer, please look at the following schedules and please make every effort to attend so that your presence will be an honor for us bystanders and veteran lovers!

VETERAN’S DAY IS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021 – please review the events and services below that lead up to and follow Veteran’s Day.

THURSDAY, VETERAN’S DAY NOVEMBER 11 SERVICES:

Manteo Downtown: Veteran’s Memorial 11 a.m.

Nags Head Town Hall: 11 a.m.

Southern Shores Town Hall: 11 a.m.

Kill Devil Hills Veterans Memorial: 12:30 p.m.

ALSO, ON THURSDAY, VETERAN’S DAY (EVENING):

Free Outer Banks Veterans Concert in the backyard at Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint featuring rock n’ roll by Trick Fly starting at 6 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13 and SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

2021 VETERAN’S WRITING WORKSHOP: A Guide to Telling Your Stories a free two-day workshop located at the UNC Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese, where family members and all writing skills are welcome. The workshop will accommodate up to 15 participants. More details provided following pre-registration, a requirement. Please register online at DAREARTS.ORG/VETERANS as soon as possible.

Facebook – search Outer Banks Veterans, then posts for additional information that might be of interest.

From the northern end to the southernmost end of the Outer Banks, our veterans are celebrated, but not just this weekend or week! We love our veterans and their family members. If you are a veteran and wish to talk to our Dare County Veteran Service Officer, Patty O’Sullivan (252-475-5604) about a medical condition that may be service connected, to file a claim or to get help in acquiring a duplicate DD-214 etc., please call her and leave your name and a phone number with voicemail capability. She will call you back. If you would like to obtain your free Dare County Veteran Discount Card, please call me at 252-202-2058 or email me at giglineheroes@aol.com. Also check out: giglineheroes.com if you have a chance and make a comment or send us a message if you would like.

As Americans who love this country, love our flag, we love YOU! God bless you and your family. THANK YOU for your service and your sacrifice! Until next time, be healthy, safe and happy; love each other and most of all . . . love yourselves because we sure do! Stay tuned!

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