Col. David D. Kretz will deliver reflections during a Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 at the Henry Solomon Lehr statue on the front of the Ohio Northern University campus.
Kretz is commander of the 88th Mission Support Group, 88th Air Base Wing, based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. As commander, he leads more than 2,100 personnel and an annual budget of $54 million. Kretz enlisted in the Air Force in 1985 and received his commission in 1994 as a distinguished graduate of the Officer Training School. He has served in a variety of assignments, including three squadron commands.
A color guard of the Ream-McElroy VFW Post 9381, Ada, will post colors.
The Veterans Day event also will include an invocation by the Rev. David MacDonald, ONU chaplain; the University Singers performing the National Anthem and “Song of Triumph”; greetings and laying of memorial wreaths by ONU President Daniel DiBiasio and Ada Mayor David Retterer; a moment of silence; and the playing of taps by ONU Marching Band members Joseph Runser, a senior computer science major from Lima, Ohio, and Laura Ayers, a junior music education major from Lima, Ohio.
The event is free and open to the public.
Also, a lunch will be provided, free of charge, to veterans and their families following the ceremony at the Ada VFW Hall, 2147 State Route 235, Ada.
