Maine Honors Military Veterans with Parades, Wreath Layings

Maine Public | By Fred Bever

Published November 11, 2016 at 2:20 PM EST

An ROTC recruit stands with a flag during the singing of the national anthem at Portland's Veterans' Day ceremonies.

PORTLAND, Maine - Mainers today turned out to honor the state's veterans.

A rifle salute marked Portland's Veterans' Day ceremonies. Rob Austin of Standish served four years as an Army artillery man in the Desert Storm campaign from 1989 to 1993.

Austin says you can't understand what military service means. "Everything. This is what our country's all about. Sacrifice. A lot of people sacrificed a lot for the freedoms that we have today."

Austin's two young sons, Cub Scouts, marched in the parade, as did Mainers young and old at ceremonies, parades and wreath layings around the state.

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Maine Veterans' Day

Fred Bever

A Columbia University graduate, Fred began his journalism career as a print reporter in Vermont, then came to Maine Public in 2001 as its political reporter, as well as serving as a host for a variety of Maine Public Radio and Maine Public Television programs. Fred later went on to become news director for New England Public Radio in Western Massachusetts and worked as a freelancer for National Public Radio and a number of regional public radio stations, including WBUR in Boston and NHPR in New Hampshire.

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