Lower Gwynedd Hosts Community to Honor Veterans

Earlier today, the Lower Gwynedd community and beyond honored veterans in the 5th annual Veterans Day Ceremony that took place at Veterans Park.

Patriotic music performed by the Wissahickon Middle School Marching Band welcomed guests, and CPT Dick Target, US Marine Corps (R) welcomed the community, honored guests and introduced the public officials in attendance. He also introduced the guest speakers. A little information about each of these impressive guest speakers is as follows:

Paul Kitchen, Sgt,. US Army(R) who served in Italy from 1943-1945 with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, the only unit of its kind to serve during World War II. Among other commendations, he received the BronzeStar and Good Conduct Medal. Upon returning to civilian life, he resumed his college education at the University of Pennsylvania, and went on to wok for a corrugated box manufacturer before retiring in 1984.

Superintendent of Wissahickon School District, James Crisfield also spoke. Crisfield served 4 years in the USAF, after graduating with an ROTC scholarship from Stanford University in 1986. While in the service, he was assigned to the USAF Computer Aquisition Center, where he spearheaded the contract for desktop computer systems across the entire Department of Defense.

The third guest speaker was Erica Webster, Staff Sgt.,US Army(R) who served in the Army Military Police Corps from 2005-2012. She was stationed ar Guantanamo Bay in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and also deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She also served in South Korea, and at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. During her transition from the Army to a student, she founded a women’s only fitness facility. Erica graduated from west Chester University in 2017 with a B.S. in Kinesiology, and was elected as the University’s first ever female Student Veterans Group President.

Sterling S. Randolph, MSgt, PaANG is a member of the 111th Fighter Wing,PA Air national Guard located at the Horsham Air Guard Station, and spoke this morning, as well. Currently, he serves as the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of Wireless Transmission Systems in the 111th Communications Flight. After entering Active Duty in 1987 with the USAF, his deployments included the Cold War “Looking Glass” mission, which provided command and control of United States nuclear forces in the event that ground-based command centers were destroyed. He entered the Air National Guard in 1992, where he was assigned to CommunicationsFlight and Force Support. Among other commendations, he is the recipient of the USAF Commendation Medal and Achievement Medal, both with 2 oak leaf clusters.

Also a guest speaker, Ryan Fox, Sgt., US Marine Corp.(R) served in the US Marine Corps from 2004- 2009. After boot camp in Paris Island, SC and Camp Lejeune, NC for Combat Training, he went to Lackland Air Force Base training in corrections. After graduating, he was stationed in Camp Pendleton, CA and Quantico. VA where he worked in military prisons. Ryan Fox currently serves as the Montgomery County Veterans Service Officer.