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Cassia Ramelb

Junior Emiliano Cruz plays the national anthem for students and the veterans during the Veterans Day event on Nov. 9. This event was hosted by history teacher Frankie Ortega.

For veterans like Bob Donovan, Wings Over Wendy’s has inspired them to tell their stories while connecting them to other veterans like themselves.

“Wings Over Wendy’s gives me a great opportunity to see a lot of fellows that fought in the wars that I fought in,” U.S. military veteran Donovan said. “It’s where I spend most of my time.”

The Wings Over Wendy’s veterans came to speak to students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) on Nov. 9 for a Veterans Day event hosted by history teacher Francisco Ortega.

The event started with junior Emiliano Cruz playing the national anthem on the electric guitar and proceeded with an introduction by Ortega and head of Wings Over Wendy’s Ed Reynolds. The DPMHS choir then performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” and each veteran spoke about their time in the military.

Wings Over Wendy’s is an organization where U.S. military veterans gather at a local Wendy’s every Monday and discuss their time in the military and tell stories from different wars. The organization has been around since 2001 and has been active every Monday since then except for one Monday when Wendy’s was closed for Christmas.

“Very thankful that they would take the time out of their own personal lives to come and speak to a younger generation of future leaders,” Ortega said. “I hoping they (the audience) understand that for that particular event just the idea of commemorating veterans, celebrating veterans, the formality of it, the tradition of it.”