Veteran Jake Ellifritz of Keyser commented Wednesday morning that it is “amazing” to him how many local men and women out of so many graduating classes went off to war and never came back.
Indeed, the list of local veterans lost in battle, with each name read somberly by a veteran who had the good fortune to be able to return home,  is a sobering part of the annual Veterans Day program held by the Keyser Area Veteran's Associations.
After each name is read, a single bell tolls. At the conclusion of the entire list comes a military salute and the playing of “Taps.”
“When they played ‘Taps,’ it gave me cold chills,” Ellifritz said.
Keyser resident James Goldsworthy was guest speaker for the program. Although not a veteran himself, Goldsworthy has spent much time with area veterans, listening to their stories and honoring them for their service to their country.
Wednesday, he spoke about some of the trips he has made with friends to various battle re-enactments and some of the people they met and spoke with along the way.
Noting that in many cases the re-enactors were young people who were doing their best to learn the truth of how life really was in the battlefield, Goldsworth said, “I thanked them for taking an important part of American history and keeping it alive.
“They will help others remember the more than 2 million men and women who went halfway around the world to stand up for America.”
Even today, he added, veterans are not receiving the credit they deserve for defending their country.
“Korean War veterans still don’t get the recognition they deserve,” he said. “South Korea remains a free nation because of what American troops did more than a half century ago and still are doing today.”
Another group of veterans that has rarely received the recognition it deserved, he said, are the African-American troops.
“The men we call Buffalo Soldiers were regiments of African-American cavalry and infantry,” he said.
“We were taught that Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders took San Juan Hill ... only that's not the way it happened. The first American boots on top of San Juan Hill were worn by Buffalo Soldiers.”
Goldsworthy also paid tribute to another overlooked and under-recognized group – women in uniform.
“Several of my friends have been nurses. Some of them served in combat areas, and one became the chief of the nursing staff at Walter Reed,” he said.
“My friends who went there to have their lives pieced back together would tell you that (these nurses) are some of their greatest heroes.”
Others participating in the Veterans Day program included Frank Fortner, who led the Pledge of Allegiance; Bill Jones, who gave the invocation and benediction; Ralph Hartman, Willis Shumaker, Harry Burton, Reva Shirley and Paul McIlwee, who read the roll call of deceased veterans; and Don Heare and Pete Broadwater, who rang the bell in response.
Members of Queen's Point VFW Post 6776 McCoole gave the military salute.
The Keyser Area Veterans Association is composed of Boyce-Houser American Legion Post 41 of Keyser, Nancy Hanks VFW Post 3518 of Keyser, Queen's Point VFW Post 6776 of McCoole, Washington-Smith American Legion Post 152, and Disabled American Veterans Chapter 9 of Keyser.