Baltimore City Marks Veterans Day With Ceremony At War Memorial Building
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The sound of "Taps" filled city streets downtown for Baltimore City's Veterans Day ceremony.
Bells marked the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month.
A scaled-down celebration at the War Memorial downtown honored those who served.
A dining table set for one was center stage below the podium.
"The 'Missing Man Table,' also known as the 'Fallen Comrade Table,'" noted Alan Walden.
Prisoners of war and those missing in action were remembered amid recognizing those who made it home.
The ceremony honored the commander of the Maryland National Guard, Janeen Birckhead. But it also featured two veterans from the first all-Black parachute infantry, the 555th, known as the "triple nickels," and veterans with the 231st Transportation Trucking Battalion, an African-American unit based in Baltimore and the only Maryland National Guard unit to serve in the Korean War.
"We talk about—use language like 'a more perfect union'. That's what we're about," said one speaker. "There's nothing perfect out here, but here in America, we work to achieve a more perfect union."
The Baltimore City Veterans Commission hosted today's ceremony here.
The wreath outside City Hall was placed by Gold Star Mothers following the ceremony across the street.
Congressman Anthony Brown, a retired U.S. Army reserve colonel, was the keynote speaker.
