BEATRICE – A retired Army Colonel who later went into teaching at Columbus High School…recalls the day he told his parents he was entering the military. Gerald Meyer says anger was the reaction.


But he told a Veterans Day audience at Beatrice High School Friday, it turned out to be a rewarding decision. The Iowa native first joined the National Guard there, and later served as an airborne member in Afghanistan on three deployments.


"I was very proud of my hair, but it disappeared and then I transformed into a soldier. When my parents came down for graduation from Fort Jackson, South Carolina.....they watched me march across the field and they said... you're brother needs to join the military."


Meyer is the current Nebraska Natural Guard Historian, now overseeing construction of new exhibits at the Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward. Several in his family have served in the military…and he travels with a good friend...one of a dwindling number of World War Two Veterans remaining…an Army Air Corps member who enlisted during World War Two and the U.S. invasion of Japan.


"The World War Two generation had sixteen million people that signed up to serve....either drafted or they volunteered. Very few of them are around today. Ralph and I were talking about it on the way down here, today. I believe there's less than a quarter million, is what we're looking at....of sixteen million. We're losing thousands of them each day. And, so I wanted to bring you a World War Two veteran here today to show you......this guy right here is Mr. Ralph Hansen, from Seward, Nebraska."


As he spoke to Veterans, their spouses and students at BHS Friday, Meyer said he puts the hope of our country in the hands of the young people who were present.  "Today is a day of celebration. I hope the young people in this room right here, look at service. I can tell you...when I first joined there was not a recruiter in my high school. They just did not come out after the Vietnam War..they just didn't want to deal with it. But, I'll tell you what. I was so proud that I did join. I'm so proud that I made a career out of it, that I retired as a Colonel. Sitting in the band, or doing the choir, or the plays, or football and all the different sports, I never thought I'd be a Colonel. But, these people here inspired me to do it."


Beatrice High School Principal Jason Sutter led Friday’s ceremony, which included performances by the Beatrice High School Band and BHS Vocal Music students. Staying with tradition, they played and sang the armed service songs of the various military branches, in honor of veterans and their families.