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SLIDESHOW: Top of Utah Veterans Day Celebrations
CLEARFIELD -- Cool temperatures reddened noses, while deep emotions and tears reddened eyes during a special tribute Wednesday to honor 11 soldiers from Davis County who gave their lives for freedom.
Clearfield High School Junior ROTC cadets, arrayed in full dress blue uniforms, stood at attention in a mass formation on the football field throughout the ceremony, which included the reading of words by Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Paine and the Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln.
"Today we have the honor of paying tribute to Clearfield High students who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of freedom," said cadet Eric Zenger as the Veterans Day ceremony began.
Clearfield High School's Junior ROTC held the ceremony to dedicate a plaque with the names of the fallen soldiers, all former Clearfield High students who served in various wars dating from the 1960s.
Several members of the high school's graduating class of 1968 sponsored the event and the memorial plaque, which will hang in the school's hall of honor, Principal John Mills said.
"We attended high school at a time when many of us were going into service for our country in the Vietnam War," said Judd Kemp, keynote speaker. "It is our pleasure today as student body officers of the class of 1968 to present this plaque to Mr. Mills."
After Mills accepted the plaque, cadet choir members sang "Taps." A time of silence honored the soldiers who died last week at Fort Hood, Texas, especially Aaron Nemelka, of Davis County, who is the cousin of Clearfield High student Ian Nemelka.
Taps trumpeted into the silence and the 11 fallen soldiers' names rang out through the morning service, as each was read aloud, while an American flag was burned in a nearby fire pit, in the proper style of retiring worn flags.
Honor guard members raised the American flag to half-staff on a flag pole and Utah National Guard soldier Janelle Zenger closed the memorial by singing the national anthem.
Peter Abercrombie, father of Bryan Abercrombie -- a soldier killed in 2002 during a night mission in Honduras -- said his son died just three days after his 22nd birthday.
"It was a nice tribute to Bryan and the others who were killed in conflict," he said.
Larry Anderson, a former Marine, initiated placing the memorial plaque at the school.
"This needed to be done," he said, "because nothing has been done up to this point to honor these men and their families."
