"Every Day is Your Day:" Fredericksburg Honors its Veterans
The Fredericksburg Area Veterans Council hosted its annual commemoration at the city's War Memorial.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
Chuck Zingler, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS), said he loves it when people stop veterans on the street and thank them for their service.
He’d love it even more, he said, if people asked the veteran, “Are you OK? Can I listen to what your challenges are?”
“Veterans often think they’re 10-feet tall, bullet proof, and invisible—and on the battlefield, they are,” Zingler said. “But back home, they’re not.”
Zingler was the keynote speaker at the Fredericksburg Area Veterans Council’s annual Veterans Day ceremony on Tuesday morning, and he used the opportunity to talk about the ways the DVS works to support veterans—by helping them and their family members access benefits, education, and healthcare (including mental healthcare and treatment for substance use disorder), and find meaningful employment.
He quoted George Washington, who said that America will continue to have people who are willing to fight for it based on the way it treats those who have already served and returned home.
"That is kind of the inspiration for why there is a Department of Veterans Services in all 50 states and seven territories,” Zingler said. “And I can proudly tell you that we are working to make Virginia the very best place to retain those talented men, women, and families that have served.”
Virginia is home to some 600,000 veterans, more than most other states, Chaplain Bob Price said prior to giving the invocation at Tuesday’s ceremony.
“Many came home a different person, changed by their experiences,” Price said. “We owe a debt to them.”
Fredericksburg Mayor Kerry Devine said Veterans Day is a chance to “give thanks to every generation of Americans who have answered the call of service … and returned to become teachers, business owners, first responders, and neighbors who anchor our communities.”
Zingler said the DVS can begin working with service members up to two years before they plan to leave the armed forces. He encouraged everyone in attendance to share information about what the department can do for veterans, because “Every day is your day, and we salute you.”
Tuesday’s ceremony at the Fredericksburg War Memorial on George Street was preceded by the annual procession of veterans and veterans groups down Washington Avenue.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”