Last year about 200 residents, dozens of veterans and the Yellow Springs Concert Band turned out at Memorial Park. Town Commissioner Donald Schildt is expecting another good turnout at 2 p.m. today.

"We've got two World War II vets, Durward Kettells and Bernie Murphy, who will be honored, and Eddie Lopez, a 26-year Navy veteran, will also be speaking," said Schildt, the lead organizer of the event.

Also participating, Schildt said, will be a local family with a son serving in the Middle East right now.

Last year, Sgt. James W. Cramer Jr., a 2001 Walkersville High School graduate who served tours of duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and Sgt. Andre Dungan, who has lived in Walkersville for 10 years and did a one-year tour in Iraq in 2004, were guest speakers. Each received a commemorative U.S. flag that had previously flown over the Capitol building in Washington from Rep. Roscoe Bartlett's office -- as will the honored vets this year, Schildt said.

For 25 years, Walkersville held a Memorial Day service at the park, which the Veterans Day ceremony now replaces to avoid a conflict with Woodsboro 's annual Memorial Day parade.

Among the highlights of the event, expected to last 30 to 40 minutes, are awards to the first- and second-place winners of the Veterans Day essay contest.

Schildt said the town commissioners received some 140 essays from fourth- and fifth-graders at Glade Elementary School.

"The theme this year is 'What is a veteran?'" Schildt said. "I wish we could read all the essays. The kids really come up with some good things to think about."

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