LEWISTON — An eagle glided overhead Saturday morning, as Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline delivered remarks to a crowd of veterans and community members gathered at Veterans Memorial Park.

Over 100 people gathered outdoors to hear political representatives and former service members honor local veterans and speak of the value of service. The gathering also saw the unveiling of a new peace bell at the riverside park.

“We tried to make this as inclusive as possible,” said L&A Veterans Council Chairman Jerry DeWitt, who helped organize the event. “This is Veterans Day, but we have lost members of the community that aren’t veterans, and we wanted to give some prayers to the families that are suffering and find some peace in all this.”

The event, located off Main Street overlooking the Androscoggin, began at 10 a.m. with a prayer for both armed service veterans and the people lost in last month’s shooting.

Speakers, including state legislators, Sheline and representatives for both Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Jared Golden, spoke of the importance of military service throughout American history and the value of committing to protect and defend members of one’s community. Auburn City Councilor Leroy Walker, whose son Joseph Walker was killed in last month’s shooting, joined them at the podium.

Sheline noted that soldiers from Lewiston have served in every major American conflict since the Revolutionary War. There were veterans in the crowd who had served in wars dating back to the Korean War, in the early 1950s.

“Your country requires service, occasionally,” said Stephen Cote of Lewiston, who served in the U.S. Navy. “My family has all served. Fortunately, we haven’t lost anyone. I served peacetime, from 1976 to 1980 on an aircraft carrier … (Gathering here today) means togetherness. We all served. It’s something that has to be done.”

A brisk wind encouraged the crowd to huddle closer together to hear the speakers and the music. The Kora Shrine Band performed the national anthem and a saxophone medley of hymns. When the chilly weather silenced the bagpipes, the crowd sang along to a vocal rendition of “Amazing Grace” instead.

“When you look out and see all these people who came out on a cold day, everyone has a story. Everyone has someone they’re thinking about,” said Joyce Richmond of Lewiston. “I have two husbands and a son on the monuments, and we do a lot of fundraising for the monuments.”

The crowd skewed older, with many former service members and family members attending, but there was also a strong contingent of younger faces. Boy Scout Troop 22 and the local Air Force Junior ROTC squadron participated in the ceremony, holding flags and joining veterans and speakers at the front.

“We need young people,” said Richmond. “For so long, we haven’t done anything in schools — no Pledge of Allegiance, no stories about the flag. That’s sad. The young people need to hear this story.”

The ceremony featured the unveiling of the 34th memorial stone marker in the park, which is engraved with the names of local veterans who have served in every branch of the military and the insignia of the U.S. Space Force.

During his remarks, DeWitt also encouraged the crowd to visit and ring the brand-new peace bell that was recently installed along the bank of the Androscoggin River. The bell is mounted high on a pole near the memorial stone markers, and the hope is that passers-by will ring the bell to celebrate and hope for peace.

“I’ve been talking about it for a couple years now,” said DeWitt. “We hope that everyone who comes down here to the park can ring it.”

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