A final event today in Howell will mark Veterans Day.

Following parades and ceremonies Saturday and Sunday across Livingston County, commemorations will conclude this morning with a Veterans Day Salute at Howell High School presented by the Leadership Class. The guest speaker will be U.S. Army disabled veteran James Rutherford, who was injured on a mission in 1986. Rutherford tells WHMI he plans to talk about the creed every man and woman enters into when they join the service.

After his recovery, Rutherford was stationed as Ft. Bragg as a Special Forces medical personnel training instructor. There will be a Meet & Greet in the lobby of the Bushey Performing Arts Center prior to the assembly.

Weekend ceremonies began in Brighton Saturday with a Veterans’ Day Parade and program at the Millpond’s Veterans’ Memorial, followed by a memorial service for Civil War soldier, Private Ernest Crippen, at the Old Village Cemetery, next to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Then on Sunday, the American Legion Devereaux Post 141 in Howell and the Marine Corps League Murnighan Detachment held their annual Veterans Day Salute at the veterans’ memorial on the lawn of the historic Livingston County Courthouse. That ceremony included a 21-gun salute, flag-raising and taps. A Veterans Day luncheon followed at the American Legion Post. Picture courtesy of Richard Lim. (JK)