Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) Nick Spletstoser, the senior hospice chaplain at Ogeechee Area Hospice, will give the keynote remarks during the annual Veterans Day program Monday, Nov. 11 in the Emma Kelly Theater in downtown Statesboro.
Hosted by American Legion Dexter Allen Post 90, the event is free, with the public encouraged to attend. In keeping with the origins of Veterans Day in the World War I armistice of 1918, when the guns were silenced at the “11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” the speaking program begins at 11 a.m.
Prior to that, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Archibald Bulloch Chapter, will serve coffee and doughnuts inside the Averitt Center for the Arts building beginning at 10:30 a.m. Isaac Sherrod, the teenage piano prodigy from the Stilson community, who also played at the 2023 Veterans Day observance, is scheduled to perform patriotic selections in the theater before the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Honor Guard posts the flag to start the program.
Prior to the keynote address, members of Post 90 will offer an opening prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and three readings. Post 90 Commander Bobby Godwin will introduce Spletstoser.
As an Army National Guardsman in Georgia and South Carolina over the past 32 years, Spletstoser said his keynote address will cover a variety of topics and observations from his long career.
He grew up on a farm in Dodge County and was part of the ROTC program at both Dodge County High School and North Georgia College.
Spletstoser said he would talk about what it means to serve as an Army chaplain and supporting members from all faith backgrounds, including those who profess no religious faith.
He said he will discuss the impact of caring for fellow veterans in the community, as well as helping veterans and their families when they come to Ogeechee Area Hospice.
Finally, Spletstoser said he would perform a song he wrote for Veterans Day in 2016 while he was deployed in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan.
“I wrote the song because I was asked to perform a patriotic song for the installation Veteran’s Day event,” he said. “I couldn’t find a song, among all the songs written, that I felt adequately honored all service members, since it’s a Joint base, as well as honored women veterans.”
John Daube, the senior vice commander for Post 90, will close the program by leading the audience in singing “God Bless America.”
“It’s part of being an American to honor those in every branch of the military who have served and are serving our country,” said Post 90 member Bob Marsh, who helped organize Monday’s annual observance. “I hope folks come out and show their appreciation.”
Marsh said everyone is invited back to American Legion Post 90 headquarters on Rucker Lane after Monday’s program for a free lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and sides.
Joiner Anderson Funeral Home & Crematory, Bulloch Memorial Gardens , Chick-fil-A and the Averitt Center for the Arts sponsor the observance in cooperation with American Legion Post 90.