OCOEE, Fla. – The city of Ocoee held its annual Veterans Day Ceremony on Thursday at the Ocoee Lakeshore Center.
The city welcomed Retired Marine Corps Maj. Barron Mills as its keynote speaker.
Having grown up as the son of a career Army officer and then serving in the Marine Corps himself for 20 years, Maj. Mills has been on five continents and to dozens of countries. His prior experiences include leading Marines on missions in the Mediterranean, Haiti, Cuba, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
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“As a Marine, I had to start my career as a Platoon Commander, and got to know those Marines the best,” says Mills. “Everyone had different reasons for joining, but in the end, we all end up doing the same thing which is service and sacrifice.”
His military career included a variety of roles such as a project manager for a $42 million simulation training system, managing the operations of a schoolhouse with 14 programs of instruction and over 6,000 annual students, building a 5,000-man Iraqi infantry brigade, managing a base in western-Iraq for 2,000 coalition members, and leading a 35-man platoon in conducting security operations in Bosnia and Haiti.
He retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 2016.
“Serving in the military is kind of a special sacrifice though, in that you are going to be taken away from your community, from your family, thrown probably into the harshest conditions that most folks will go through in their life and stuff,” adds Mills. “So, someone’s willingness to throw themselves into that, to raise their right hand and to resubject themselves, to serve in those conditions; yeah, that’s a reason to thank them and say I appreciate what you did for our country.”
Ocoee resident Sherrí Gladney sang the National Anthem while the Ocoee Middle School Wind Ensemble played a medley of songs. The Ocoee Police and Fire Department Honor Guards presented the colors.
A wreath was put up and displayed at the city’s Memorial Wall as an Ocoee High School Band member played Taps.
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