Veterans Honored at CCBC

Students, school administrators and politicians gathered on the CCBC Catonsville campus for a moment of silence and to lay a wreath of remembrance and gratitude to veterans.   The wreath was placed at the foot of a Southern Magnolia tree, grown from a sapling of the tree in the field of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. 

“This tree has been growing here for eight years, and we always hold our Veterans Day ceremony here,” said Fred Bartlett, Jr., assistant director of student life communications.

Student veterans were unanimous in their praise for the ways in which the Catonsville campus of CCBC supports them.  Sylvester Woodland, a work study student in the Veterans Services Office at the college, said, “I have been received at CCBC with open arms, which has helped me acclimate back into getting an education after eight years in the US Navy.” 

At the reception in the barn following the wreath laying, Delegate James Malone reminded the gathered crowd of the last line of our national anthem, “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” and thanked “each and every one of the men and women of today and in the future for their service and commitment to preserving those freedoms.”

County Councilman Tom Quirk noted that World War I was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.”  However, since Armistice Day on November 11, 1918, circumstances in the world have required resistance from heroic people, again and again.  Rhiannon Feehly, a Marine Corps veteran, dabbed tears from her eyes as Quirk spoke.

While some of the gathered guests sampled food and a celebratory cake, others helped to pack up toiletries and write thank you notes for care packages to be distributed to veterans at MCVET, the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training in Baltimore.  The care packages are a service project of the Student Government Association, which is headed by Jack Poteet, himself a veteran of a decade of service in the Marine Corps.

Ellen Robinson, certifying official of Veteran Affairs on the Catonsville campus coordinated the event. 

“We have almost 500 veterans on this campus. Life is hard for them when they get out.  There are so many rules and regulations before they even get home.  And then there are so many challenges," she said.

As an example, Robinson continued, “someone might slam a car door, and you or I would think it was nothing, but one of my kids might jump out of their skin.  The suicide rate is very high among returning veterans.  I worry about them.  I try to educate them and other people about what they need to stay healthy and happy.”

When asked about what a returning veteran needs from family and friends, Robinson replied, “Listen to them.  They need you.  They’re not coming back the same and what they’re coming back to is different.”