‘A nation grateful’ MMA welcomes public at services for Veterans Day

CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy, its students, staff and faculty on Thursday used a familiar symbol to honor veterans who have served and who still serve in the nation’s military.

During the academy’s annual Veterans Day ceremony, representatives from the academy and community attached yellow ribbons to an honor board recognizing groups of veterans connected to MMA and to the town, and individuals honored by academy community members.

The ceremony has become a tradition at the academy, but this year there was an effort to include more of the community in the event, according to Capt. Jeff Loustaunau, commandant of midshipmen at MMA. For a number of years, Loustaunau said, there have been few participants outside the regiment of midshipmen.

“This year, we felt that it was important to do something that was meaningful for all facets of the school – the students, the staff, the faculty – and not just the regiment of midshipmen,” he said.

More than 80 members of the MMA community submitted names of more than 200 living and deceased veterans to be honored during the ceremony. Initially, Loustaunau said, the plan had been to read the names of the individual honorees. The response was so overwhelming, however, that the academy chose to attach ribbons recognizing larger groups of veterans with connections to the academy.

“I think this ceremony is important, first for those who are currently serving to show that they have support and appreciation for what they do,” Loustaunau said. “It is also important for us to take time to pause and reflect on the sacrifices people do make for our way of life and to preserve that way of life throughout the world.”

Such ceremonies are important, according to Midshipman Travis Lefton of Pamona, N.Y. Lefton served in the U.S. Navy as an enlisted man for two years before coming to the academy. He has two brothers now serving near Baghdad, Iraq, one as an operations officer and pilot of a Black Hawk helicopter, the other an infantry officer.

“Veterans Day is a way to show that all that effort is respected and valued,” Lefton said. “They value what you are doing in the service.”

The day is also a time for remembrance, according to James W. Wood Jr. of Seal Harbor, a member of the Down East Chapter of the Merchant Marine Veterans Association.

“It’s important to remember,” Wood said. “Very few people in the U.S. know what the Merchant Marine does. We carry all the goods.”

Members of the association attended the ceremony. Chapter President Larry Bartlett placed a wreath at the base of the monument to local merchant mariners who had died in action, and Secretary Caroline Blodgett attached a yellow ribbon on the honor board in their memory.

The MMA regiment of midshipmen stood in formation on the U.S. Flag Quadrangle for the ceremony, which included the singing of the national anthem, a 21-gun salute, and a performance by pupils from the Adams School in Castine.

The academy flag flew at half-staff in honor of Capt. Ed Conrad, a former academic dean at MMA and master of the academy’s training vessel, who died recently. Conrad was also a World War II veteran who had served in the Navy’s submarine forces.