CLEVELAND — At News 5, we don’t just honor our veterans one day a year, we’ve made it our mission to say thank you as often as we can. That’s what our series "Your Service" is all about. This year was no exception.
We were with the Dannemiller family when Korean war veteran Ervin was remembered with a headstone at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, a day that was years in the making.
RELATED: Akron Korean War Veteran killed in action honored
As was Mike Zaderecky’s 104th birthday.
We collected cards, many of them from you, for his big day, and delivered them live on the air in Parma to this World War II veteran.
RELATED: Mike Zaderecky of Parma patrolled the beaches of Normandy
In one of our more moving stories, we watched 97-year-old Libert Bozzelli walk the stage and graduate high school, years after serving his nation in World War II.
RELATED: 98-year-old veteran graduates high school with great-grandchild
We also checked in with Vietnam war veteran Daniel Pasini, given the keys to an accessible van by the group Ride with Valor.
RELATED: Ride with Valor gifts handicap accessible van to veteran
And, yet to come Friday, we’ll talk with navy veteran Paul Holbert, who shares his gift of music from the piano at the Cleveland VA hospital.
We also said our share of goodbyes this year. Bozzelli joined his beloved Madeline not long after our story aired.
And a few days ago, WWII veteran Walt Stine passed away.
We accompanied Walt to Illinois three years ago to return a long-lost Purple Heart to the family of a Vietnam vet.
RELATED: Hartville vet's journey to find owner of Purple Heart
Walt will be laid to rest this weekend.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
