PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 Communities across the nation honored America\u2019s heroes on Veterans Day, including on the Treasure Coast.<\/p>\n
Dozens of people gathered at Veterans Memorial Park in Port St. Lucie on Tuesday for the city\u2019s annual Veterans Day ceremony, a celebration that holds deep meaning in a community with a very large veteran population.<\/p>\n
WATCH WPTV’S COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n
Port St. Lucie honors veterans with heartfelt Veterans Day ceremony<\/p>\n
For Marine Corps veteran Robert Hines, who served in Vietnam, the ceremony was a moment of pride and reflection.<\/p>\n
\u201cVietnam wasn\u2019t liked to be talked about, but now people can see what we\u2019ve done for our nation and our society,\u201d Hines said. \u201cIt just makes me feel good.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said the day is also about remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a remembrance of all my other fellow soldiers that served with me and it\u2019s just a reminder of how important it is,\u201d Hines said.<\/p>\n
Port St. Lucie Councilman David Pickett, who is also a veteran, shared similar sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thankful for the time that I had serving the country and I think about those that I served who didn\u2019t come home,\u201d Pickett said.<\/p>\n
The ceremony featured guest speakers, including Thomas Matteo, a six-time Purple Heart recipient who lives in Port St. Lucie.<\/p>\n
Among the crowd were not only veterans and supporters, but also families honoring loved ones who once wore the uniform. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy father fought for this country. He loved his country. He was a true American and I just really wanted to honor him,\u201d said Linda Burton, a Port St. Lucie resident.<\/p>\n
She said she hopes the stories shared Tuesday stir something in the hearts of young Americans, a reminder that freedom has always come at a price.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re helping the younger generation, many who have not seen war or been in war, to understand the sacrifice for this country and for our freedom and what freedom really is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As the rifle salute echoed and the notes of \u201cTaps\u201d faded across the park, the community paused to remember, reflect and say thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 Communities across the nation honored America\u2019s heroes on Veterans Day, including on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,28347,28349,14607,28348],"class_list":{"0":"post-43070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","11":"tag-thomas-matteo","12":"tag-veterans-ceremony","13":"tag-veterans-day","14":"tag-veterans-memorial-park"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}