Retired Marine Corps Major General James S. “Hammer” Hartsell, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs (FDVA), spoke to St. Cloud veterans at a Friday evening Veterans Day dinner hosted by St. Cloud Main Street.
The annual “Soldier City” dinner was held at the St. Thomas Aquinas Social Hall. In addition to Gen. Hartsell, local St. Cloud businessman and serving Florida Army National Guard soldier Colonel Robert Harris also addressed the veterans about the current state of young Americans currently serving on active duty in the U.S. military.
“I have placed my life into the hands of these young men and women, they are fine, they fight with heart and perform their duty to the same level that all of you veterans in this room have done in the past,” said Col. Harris, who has served combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan Gen. Hartsell spoke about the mission of the FDVA and the challenges of serving Florida’s evergrowing veteran population.
“While the overall numbers of veterans nationally are declining, we have many thousands of veterans relocating to Florida every year. They’re coming for what we all know, that in addition to the climate, there is also the spirit of freedom that can be found in our state, said Gen. Hartsell.
The dinner was well attended, with close to 200 veterans and guests. At the conclusion of the planned remarks, Main Street Executive Director and state representative Paula Starke, emcee for the dinner, asked individual veterans to please stand when their branch of service was announced. Then again, she asked for veterans who served in specific wars to stand when those conflicts were announced. Among the attendees were two World War Two veterans, including Ms. Pat Rudd, who served in the Navy, and was in one of the first contingents of Navy women to go to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii at the start of the war. The evening was capped off by an outside 21-gun salute performed by the Osceola County Veterans Council Honor Guard, and finally, Taps was sounded by a lone bugler.
For more information on the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs see https://bit. ly/4fDY3mZ.
