Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Fort Lauderdale salutes its veterans in patriotic ceremony
Patriotism was in full bloom Saturday in Fort Lauderdale where the public — under the shadow of a statue of a war hero — thanked veterans, and the mayor pledged to help returning service members transition back to civilian life.
Among about 50 veterans who showed up at the the Riverwalk near the Wayne Huizenga Pavilion at 11 a.m. was David B. Brown, a 92-year-old World War II veteran who served in the Army from 1943 to 1946. He was stationed in Europe for about a year.
“I come to these because I keep in mind my buddies that never made it and to this day I have them in my heart and in my mind,” said Brown, a resident of Fort Lauderdale. He took advantage of the G.I. Bill to pay for college, and became a medical doctor.
While Brown was able to carve out a successful career after the war, Mayor John “Jack” Seiler said during the ceremony that more can be done today to help veterans.
“We have three different programs that we are now working on that all involve helping our veterans and our current people coming back from service so that they have a safety net when they get back to Fort Lauderdale,” Seiler said.
“So many times we focus on veterans that have already fallen through the cracks, trying to get them back,” he said. Now we’re actually focusing on making sure the day they arrive back, there is job training, benefits, resources, connections and relationships.”
In addition to the veterans, about 40 non-veterans also attended the ceremony.
At the end of the event, the veterans gathered to take a picture under the statue of Alexander R. “Sandy” Nininger, who was killed in action early in World War II, at the age of 23. The site along the New River is where Nininger used to swim as a boy.