Saron Lutheran has announced its annual Veterans activities, to include their 5th Annual Flag Walk Nov. 5 and the 10th Annual Veterans Tribute to veterans and famlies Nov. 8 at the church.
Retired Petty Officer 1 Dale Lanz will serve as the grand marshal of the Nov. 5 walk, which will begin at noon at the Big Lake City Hall parking lot.
He will escort the flag along the route, riding in a Big Lake Police squad car and finishing at Saron with the raising of the new flag. It will wave over Saron for one year.
Lanz joined the Navy after graduation from Becker High School in 1969. He served for 24 years, six in the regular Navy and 18 years in the Reserves. He proved the slogan, “Join the Navy, See the World” to be true and that included both coasts several times.
While taking a tour of the USS Arizona at Pearl Habor, the launch he was riding on passed the USS Carl Vinson, when an old man’s comments hit him like a ton of bricks. “If we only had one of these ‘Big Boys’ back then, we’d have shot down every enemy plane and sunk their whole fleet with the fire power and jets they have on boat, probably within minutes!”
Those comments rocked Dale emotionally. He says, “What a Navy we have! What pride I felt. And some of our Naval heritage buried in the mud and wrecked iron across to our left, in the broken hull of the Arizona.
“We rose from the ashes after Dec. 7, 1941 to what we have today; the most powerful Navy in the world, second to none.
Dale continued: “I wanted to grab the old guy and hug him to pieces and say to him, ‘I do this for you, for what you went through back then, so we won’t have another Pearl Harbor! That’s why I serve.”
Dale rejoined active forces when they asked for a second round of volunteers for Desert Storm in 1991.
“It was with immense pride and honor to serve aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt at my age of 40 and be a small part of history.”
He retired from the Navy September, 1999. He has worked for Control Data, the Soo Line Railroad, Anoka-Hennepin and the Big Lake and Elk River school districts. He resides in Big Lake.
The Veterans tribute service will be held Wed., Nov. 8 at Saron Lutheran, south on Hwy. 25. Doors open at 6 p.m., followed by the ceremony at 7 p.m.
This year’s theme is “Chaplains in the Military,” with guest speakers Army Chaplain Steve Timm of Clearwater and Retired Navy Chaplain Bradley Thom.
The Big Lake High School Chamber Singers and Concert Choir will again perform.
A display at Saron will be for veterans and military currently serving, to share items connected to their faith, or items they have have received from a chaplain. Items may be dropped off at the church office Mon. - Thurs., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
They will be safely stored and displayed.
A freewill offering will be held to help complete Phase II of the Big Lake Veterans Memorial and expenses for next year’s Veterans event.
The event is free and open to the public.
