Broomfield marked Veterans Day with the sounds of bugles, fifes and drums, patriotic speeches and the crack of rifles in the morning air.
Instead of meeting inside the Broomfield High School auditorium, people from across the Denver Metro area gathered in front of the Broomfield Veterans Museum, 12 Garden Center, because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Museum President Lew Roman said the board organizing the celebration anticipated 25 people would show up.
“I am just amazed how this worked out,” he said after learning more than 160 people were counted by a museum volunteer.
Keynote speaker Ryan Woolf, a veteran of the global war on terror, honored veterans from each war in his keynote address while gently ribbing other branches of the military.
He painted a historical picture of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination June 28, 1914, to the signing of an armistice between the Allied nations and Germany, which went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”
Woolf went over statistics of how many men and women served in each war. There are nearly 4,000 veterans in Broomfield, Woolf said. Just as important as recognizing these numbers is remembering the lives of those who served.
“Who we are though are not these numbers,” Woolf said. “We are your sons, daughters, husbands, wives, grandfathers and grandmothers. We are the person bagging your groceries… we are the doctors and nurses all fighting COVID-19 and we are the single mom fighting to make it through the day.”
“We are you, we are me. We are America’s veterans.”
On this day, the community thanks every man and woman who “donned a uniform and said ‘send me,'” Woolf said.
Flint Whitlock, a member of the museum board and published author of 14 books on historical military, lives in Denver, but became involved with the Broomfield Veterans Museum about three years ago when he saw a news segment about the City and County of Broomfield allowing the museum to take over building space then vacated by Broomfield FISH.
“I thought ‘that’s what I want to be involved with,'” Whitlock said Wednesday.
In honor of his father, James, Whitlock founded the 10th Mountain Division Living History Display Group in 1983. He also chairs the display and exhibition committee for the museum, which selects pieces for collections. Members try to keep things Broomfield-centric, then move to other Colorado veteran stories.
The Colorado Military History Museum was an unrealized goal 20 years ago, he said, but added Broomfield’s museum has become just that. The museum recently added a fallout shelter in its Cold War Room, has expanded its women in uniform selections and an exhibit recognizing the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, which will be on display until January or February.
After the ceremony, members of the public were invited to tour the museum’s exhibits. Everyone was required to wear a mask, was asked if they have COVID symptoms, and were broken into two groups of five that went through the building in opposite directions to decrease exposure.
Tracey Reichart, regent of the Indian Peaks chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution that covers Louisville, Lafayette and Erie, said about 10 group members attended the event.
“We love to support this particular museum and we like to honor our veterans,” she said, particularly since education is one of the organization’s pillars and the museum strives to educate.
Representatives from several groups came out to be part of the event, including Mile High Fife and Drum Corps and Mike Badley with Bugles Across America. Members of the American Legion Post 58 and the American Military Living History Association conducted the Salute to the Colors.
Micah Wright and Blake Olson, both 17, with the Tenth Mountain Division Living History, had a table set up with gas masks from various wars, a bar of Palmolive soap, tooth paste and a first aid dressing kit for people to see. They showed people medical tags that were put on a soldier’s collar or toe when he was wounded or killed, a glass IV jar and a helmet riddled with bullet holes.
“Every item tells its own story — no matter what it is,” Olson said. “Sometimes these stories get lost in time and I want to preserve those stories.”
On a table was a stack of black-and-white photos, including one of his great uncle Conrad Buraas, a Vietnam vet who died the day before Veterans Day.
After the ceremony veterans also recognized Howard Berger, a World War II veteran from south east Denver who turned 97 Thursday, with cupcakes and singing “Happy Birthday.” In his keynote address, Woolf remarked that only 2% of the 16 million men who in WWII are alive today.
“I appreciate this — it’s a big surprise,” Berger said. “Thank you. It’s great to be with the military.”
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