New Bremen elementary and middle school students take time to honor the men and women who stood up to defend our freedoms.
During this year’s Veterans Day Program, the students honored New Bremen graduate and Vietnam veteran, Niles Harris. Harris was part of a unit that was ambushed by enemy soldiers while they were on a mission in Vietnam. Niles was severely wounded, but most of his unit lost their lives. The attack happened on November 8th 1965.
Country music duo Big and Rich wrote a song called “8th of November” about Niles and him losing his brothers in arms that day. He lives in South Dakota now and is happy to see the support that the New Bremens students gave him and other veterans during the program.
"The support from everybody in the area is just excellent. You can see the kids care, when they were singing, when they were bringing in the flag, bringing in all the military flags, they care. They did a good job, the kids, to support the veterans, which didn’t happen after Nam," said Niles Harris, 1963 New Bremen Graduate and Vietnam Veteran.
The veteran's program is one of the biggest projects the students take on each year. Over the past few months, they have been producing videos, working on songs and getting everything just right to honor their veterans.
"I think ifs very important for students, especially my age, because they get to learn new things like what the veterans have done for us and stuff," said Ella Kramer, 7th grader, Student Leader at New Bremen.
"We just wanted to show the veterans that we appreciate them, even if they fought a couple of years ago, we still just wanted to show them that they have helped our country so much," said Lilly Wilker, 7th grader, Student Leader New Bremen.
The 8th-grade students also found a way to thank veterans by raising $650 for the Wounded Warriors Project.
