Events honoring our veterans in Wayne this month

The Wayne Veterans’ Day Ceremony on Friday, November 11th, will feature keynote speaker Mayor Pro Tem Tom Porter a United States Navy veteran.

By Sarah Shurge – As we welcome the month of November, many people’s first thought goes to Thanksgiving. However, another holiday happens earlier in the month that some would consider much more important – Veterans Day.
Please join the City of Wayne and the Wayne Veterans’ Memorial Committee for the 2022 Veterans’ Day Ceremony on Friday, November 11th. The ceremony will take place at 10AM at the memorial next to the City Hall at 3355 South Wayne Rd.
This year’s keynote speaker is Tom Porter who is currently serving as the Mayor Pro Tem of the Wayne City Council and who is also a United States Navy veteran.
Veterans Day is a day set aside to celebrate and honor all military veterans who have served. That includes those who have died in the service and the ones still with us.
Local veteran Daniel Valdez and the Wayne Public Library came up with a way last year to honor our veterans for November and are continuing it again this year.
“This is an opportunity to thank the veterans for the service they have provided and shine visibility on people in our local area that we may not realize have served this country,” said Jody Wolak, Wayne Public Library director.
It’s very easy to get involved. Any veterans in the area, family of veterans in the area, or anyone with a connection to Wayne that is a veteran, can submit a picture for the display.
You can email a picture to help@wayne.lib.mi.us with your name and branch of service. Or, you can bring a photo into the library and they will make a copy. The library has saved all the photos from last year, but would love to add more and make the display bigger this year.
“People really enjoyed it last year and we want to continue to honor and celebrate our vets every year. Since it was very well received and very popular, we figured we would make it an annual thing,” said Wolak.
The display will be put up in the library lobby the first week of November, and pictures will continue to be added throughout the month as they come in.
“Thank you, Mr. Valdez for the suggestion and thank you, veterans for your service and for sharing your photos and memories with us,” said Wolak. “We are always open to suggestions from the community about events and displays the library can do. Please continue to let us know. That’s how we continue to offer things that benefit the community.”
The library is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. It’s closed on Sunday. For more information about the Wayne Public Library, visit wayne.lib.mi.us or email help@wa-yne.lib.m.us or call (734)721-7832.