Santa Rosa Young Marines Pay Tribute to Area Veterans

Local veterans were honored and served breakfast Saturday in a project planned by three Santa Rosa Academy students. (Staff photos / Menifee 24/7)

Three students at Santa Rosa Academy coordinated a pancake breakfast and ceremony honoring area veterans Saturday.

Juniors Tyler Munstock and Eli Miller (left to right) and sophomore Spencer Shaw are all members of the school's Young Marines program -- a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Marines separate from ROTC. Their involvement in the group and appreciation for military veterans motivated the three to plan the event as a required school community service project.

"Most schools do community services hours, but we do a community service project so we have more of an impact on the community," Miller said. "It's important to all three of us to support the veterans. We hope it will be an annual breakfast and the classes behind us will continue this."

The ceremony began with the presentation of the American and Young Marines flags by a Young Marines color guard that included Shaw (far right). It was followed by the singing of the national anthem by a women's choir and a duet by two young girls.

Guests were then invited inside to share in the breakfast. The attendees included a variety of local veterans, including some from World War II.

"We all thought it would be a good way to honor our veterans," Munstock said. "Veterans get their average 'Thank you for your service.' We wanted to go above and beyond and actually put together a ceremony for them."

Shaw, who has several veterans in his family, said he was proud to take part in the color guard and ceremony.

"It's a formal way of saying thank you and paying our respects to the flag," he said about the color guard. "We always think of our veterans as deserving a higher level of respect. We wanted to let them know people really care and that the youth around here really care."