By Terra Avilla
Every Veterans Day in Lassen County, the day starts at Diamond Crest Cemetery. The American Legion Post #204 shows up first, Lassen College athletes arrive groggy eyed and all. There’s no show, no rush.
You can almost feel their emotions as they walk the rows, placing flags for every veteran. That moment never fails to get me.
Not much later, the college athletes head over to Community Church on Numa Road.
They’re not just serving breakfast. They’re cracking jokes, swapping stories, fetching coffee for veterans who could outtough our baseball team and have lived twice the stories.
What always gets me is that these kids are up before sunrise, however, year after year after year after year, they continually say that this is their favorite community service that they do while they’re at Lassen.
The best part of living here is you find veterans everywhere. From running our little league comma to businesses comma to helping even run the city and county itself and all the ways to always helping out with anything to do with the schools. Veterans keep Lassen County strong.
And you see it in our schools too. My daughters’ school has a full Veterans Day assembly. The place is packed, the kids proud, posters taped up everywhere. You see little voices sing, little hands salute the flag, and you realize… it’s so Lassen County, and it’s the good stuff.
Back to the day of events… by the time Main Street fills for the parade, you can really see what this place is about. Kids are waving flags, grabbing candy and every float has a smiling face of one of our family and friends.
Maybe Lassen County, Veterans Day is so special to me, because on my very first day wearing my badge for the police department, I stood on the parade route and felt just how real this all is. It’s community. This county knows how to honor its people.
Flags in the frost, pancakes in the morning, kids singing and a town full of gratitude. This is who we are. And that’s why I love where we live.
