Veterans around the nation will be honored and remembered this Sunday, and Newberry is doing its part to give local veterans the recognition they deserve.

Several local schools will kick off Veterans' Day celebrations this Friday, and the annual Newberry Veterans' Day parade will move down Main Street on Saturday.

Today is the last day to sign up for the American Legion's Veterans Appreciation Day, to be held Monday at 7 p.m. All veterans and their friends and families are invited to participate in the event. Speaking will be Lt. Col. (Ret.) Richard Rennebaum, assistant professor of military science at Newberry College. Tickets, which include a Thanksgiving dinner, are $10 and must be purchased by the end of the day. For tickets, call Jim Lander at 276-1736 or Larry Fulmer at 276-5051 or 924-6356.

Newberry Elementary School's veterans' program begins at 9 a.m. Friday, and the public is invited to attend the event. It will feature the Newberry Middle School Civil Air Patrol, a performance by the chorus and a presentation on the history of Veterans' Day by kindergarten teacher Jackie Holmes. Joan Zoellner, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Core, and Kimberly Norris Jones, a member of the Army reserve, are lined up to speak to the students and public. The program concludes with a wreath ceremony at the flagpole. The event will be held in the NES auditorium.

At 9:45 a.m. Prosperity-Rikard Elementary School will once again hold its Veterans' Day celebration. The program includes a performance by the 108th Division Band and the PRES chorus. Staff Sgt. Michael Cheatham will talk to the students about his service in the first Gulf War. Again this year, the school will demonstrate the traditional “table setting” for the missing soldier. The public is invited to attend Friday's event, to be held in front of the school.

The Newberry High School ROTC will hold its annual Veterans' Day pass and review at 11 a.m. on Friday. The public, especially veterans, is invited to attend. Sgt. Major Melvin Everson is scheduled to speak at the event. The pass and review will be held on the NHS football field.

Then at 2 p.m., Pomaria-Garmany Elementary School invites the public to attend its Veterans' Day assembly. Students were asked to invite someone they know that is a veteran and to wear red, white and blue. The school will also include the empty table in its program, and PGES students will be performing.

The Veterans' Day Parade will begin its march down Main Street at 11 a.m. Saturday. Local organizations and veterans will be participating in the parade, which will begin at Calhoun Street and continue down to Memorial Square where a Veterans' Day program will be held following the parade. Veterans wanting to participate in the parade are asked to meet on Johnstone Street near Calhoun Street at 10 a.m. The parade is organized by the American Auxiliary Post 219.

And after Veterans' Day programs come to a close until next year, Hospice Care of South Carolina reminds the community that veterans deserve care and attention throughout their lives.

More than 50,000 American veterans die each month. That's about 28 percent of all deaths in the United States.

“Brave men and women in all branches of the service have made sacrifices and dedicated their lives to peace and the defense of freedom,” said Pamela Branton, community relations director for Hospice Care of South Carolina. “The liberty that we, as U.S. citizens, enjoy comes at a price paid by these valiant men and women.”

To give back some of what veterans have given their country, Branton encourages friends and families of veterans to contact hospice for quality end of life care. For more information, Branton can be reached at 364-0625, or visit www.hospicecare.net.