St. Regis honors veterans at school assembly

St. Regis students decorated the school cafeteria for Veterans Day with red, white and blue balloons, posters, crepe paper and thank you cards.

In his seventh year as principal of St. Regis School, Shaun Ball said he takes tremendous pride in the event and instilling in students the values of respect, honor and country.

“Usually, we hold this on Fridays but since we don’t have school tomorrow, we’re actually holding it today, which is the Marine Corps birthday so it’s a good blend," he said. "We look at this event as a time to remember and realize just how important our vets are. That without their cause and sacrifices, we wouldn’t be here today.”

David Williams is the founder of Joint Operation Mariposa in Plains, a veteran’s nonprofit support organization that addresses depression, isolation, skills gaps, homelessness, PTSD and suicide among those who have served. A Navy veteran himself, he attended the St. Regis breakfast for the first time because his grandniece invited him as she’s a student at the school.

Williams is very active with all veteran organizations and said that Sanders County had organized a huge day for the occasion.

“If a person could time it out tomorrow, they could have breakfast in Noxon, lunch in Thompson Falls and dinner in Plains, if you could eat that much,” he chortles. “All to honor our veterans.”

Shauna Rael, who is 13 years old and Willaims grandniece said, “He’s pretty cool, but he likes to pick on me a lot.” When asked what Veterans Day means to her, she politely said, “It’s a time to thank our veterans for giving us good service and helping out around the world.”

One chowhound was Terry Mesenbrink who is a Navy veteran that served from 1986 to 1992 stationed on the USS Eisenhower.

“We were the ‘tip of the spear’ in 1990 in the Red Sea when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait,” he shared.

Another veteran enjoying breakfast was Matt Eisenbacher who served in the Army National Guard for 22 years.

“I was an engineer, heavy equipment operator deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 and Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011.”

He explained that for every month a guardsman is deployed, it knocks down the overall time of receiving retirement benefits so rather than waiting until a person turns 62 to collect, he draws his pension at 57.

Rich Minson served aboard the USS America Aircraft Carrier.

“We did launch and recovery of the Naval aircraft on the deck wearing the yellow shirts. In 1986, we were at war for three days with Libya and we were known for launching 72 aircraft in 12 minutes. This was a joint effort with the Air Force and the British Royal Air Force and we bombed Libya for three straight days and that was the end of that,” he said.

For 8 years, Tyler Cheeseman has worked at the school and has been the counselor for five.

“I think it’s important for the kids to know how many people in our community have served. My dad is one and served in Vietnam. I participate in the March of the Bataan every year and feel this is a huge thing.”

The 34th Bataan Memorial March is March 6, 2023, in White Sands, New Mexico. This is a 26.2 mile grueling marathon to remember the thousands of soldiers that died in April 1942 that walked 60 miles to POW camps.

Following the egg scramblers, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit, muffins and coffee, all of the students, parents and veterans were ushered into the gymnasium for an assembly.

American Legion Post 13 Color Guard expertly presented the colors followed by emotional remarks from Ball, who thanked the veterans, the students and the staff for being involved in the ceremony.

A microphone was passed to each visiting veteran to introduce themselves and mention when and where they served if they cared to do so. Then, the school band, that included alumni Denley Loge, played the official songs of each branch of the US Armed Forces. This portion of the program was conducted by Derek Larson, Band Director and Superintendent of the School.

“We love honoring the service that our community members have given to our country. It’s an encouragement to our kids also that we support these things that benefit our country and community. And it’s really important for us that our students and staff be involved in outreach to the community as part of the public-school experience,” he beamed.

It was a patriotic morning with good natured ribbing among the veterans and sincere appreciation from a grateful school.