Marching to highlight the veterans in Lawrence

Students, teachers and parents from the recently rebranded Brandeis Hebrew Academy held handmade signs and waved American flags through the Lawrence school’s second annual Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11. Beginning at 10 a.m., the parade proceeded from Frost Lane to Central Avenue and Washington Avenue to Broadway and back to Frost Lane.

Before the parade, Brandeis students took part in a question and answer session with U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Lucia, a trained Black Hawk helicopter pilot. The students’ questions focused on Lucia’s military experience, his family’s history of serving in the armed forces, life on an army post, his uniform and medals.

The students also performed a musical presentation. Audrey Bieber, who teaches middle school English and is the literacy coordinator for grades first through fourth, coordinated the program. Art teacher Kim Duchow was in charge of the décor.

Veterans Day celebrates all the men and women who served in the nation’s military. The commemoration was initially Armistice Day that marked the end of World War I, which fell on Nov. 11. The switch to Veterans Day was made in 1954 to account for all the veterans in all the country’s wars.