by Bea Peterson
While most Veterans Day ceremonies honor veterans from World War I on, the ceremony in front of the Cartakers House at the Bennington Battlefield addressed an earlier era. “You are standing on hallowed ground,” Walloomsac Sons of the American Revolution told the gathering. “It was right here on this spot the Battle of Bennington was fought.” Sheaff led the Pledge of Allegiance. Phyllis Chapman, dressed in Civil War era clothing, introduced the program and read the ever meaningful Gettysburg Address.
The flag was taken from its pole by Hoosick Falls Girl Scouts Anna Brewer, Stephanie Stowell and Madeline Yeung of Troop 1144 and Boy Scout Sean Yeung as Ondawa-Cambridge DAR members Lois Sheaff, Eleanor Calhoun and Barbara Green placed a memorial wreath by the flag pole. Taps was played by Devon Wyngold and a cannon salute was fired by members of the 2nd Continental Regiment of Artillery, followed by a rifle volley fired by Peter Schaaphok attired as a Civil War soldier.
As the Girl Scouts folded the flag, Chapman read the Boy Scout meaning behind each fold. Ingrid Schaaphok, dressed in bonnet and hoop skirt, followed the folding by singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The flag was presented to Liz Wagner of Grafton Lakes State Park and the Bennington Battlefield. Wagner thanked the many participants for their role in the program and reminded those attending that had it not been for the victory on that very Battlefield, the Revolutionary War could have ended differently and our history today would be very different.
