Veterans Day celebration honors Adopt-A-Chaplain

Army veteran and Navy mom Travi Rambali, left, helped honor “Grannie Annie” Trail’s Adopt-A-Chaplain program during a McCook Elementary program Friday.

Courtesy photo

McCOOK, Neb. — Last Friday, the McCook Elementary School hosted a Veteran’s Day Celebration. About 30 of us Veterans, former Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines were paraded, introduced and seated on the stage. One female, a former Army Paratrooper, no less, among us.

We were treated to a wonderful program of young voices happily singing, waving small American flags, as the kiddos, grouped by grades, sang their well-chosen patriotic songs. Ah beautiful children’s voices accompanied by the High School concert band. Very well done. A warm and happy program.

In an impromptu addition Grannie Annie was escorted to front center, by a miniature platoon of flag waving youth, to talk about her Adopt a Chaplain program. Grannie mentioned that her group of volunteers had just the day before mailed fifty care packages to the Chaplain stationed on the USS America deployed to the Gulf. A great community effort to make their Christmas a little less lonely.

Courtesy photo

Afterward over donuts and coffee Travi Rambali, the former paratrooper, descended on Grannie Annie to tell that she had “felt warm all over” when Grannie mentioned the USS America because her son Devin is presently a Navy Crewmember of that very ship. Then mom Travi called her son on her cell phone and was able to speak to him as his ship was on a port of call in Dubai. Happy talk by a proud mom via the modern world of communication and it all happened right here in McCook, Nebraska.