Plain City: New site for Veterans Day observance

By Fran Odyniec

For The Madison Press

American Legion and VFW officials have announced that the site for the annual Plain City Veterans Day observance has been changed.

This year the event will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, in the gymnasium of the Plain City Elementary School at 580 S. Chillicothe St. in Plain City. Traditionally the observance had been held under the massive American flag mural on the wall of the Masonic Lodge building at the corner of Main and Chillicothe streets in downtown Plain City.

The event is sponsored by Plain City American Legion Post 248 and VFW Darby Post 3268.

Bernie Vance, commander of the VFW post and first vice commander of the American Legion post, hopes the new location will be more convenient for the public.

“Weather is the biggest reason,” Vance explained of the move. “The elementary school will furnish seating as well as parking, and we’ll be inside where it will be warm.”

Lt. Col. Holly C. Mitchell, of the Ohio Air National Guard, will deliver the keynote address. The Jonathan Alder Marching Band, under the direction of Paul Bruner, will provide musical accompaniment.

The school’s third and fourth grade students will be special guests.

“It’s an obligation of veterans to remind kids of the importance of honoring vets,” said Vance, of the students’ participation, “who have provided the freedoms they have as we all have. We have to keep them informed of those contributions and sacrifices made by veterans.”

Lt. Col. Mitchell, who was recently promoted to her new rank, began her service in January of 1986 when she entered the 121st Services Flight of the Ohio Air National Guard. During that time she achieved the rank of technical sergeant.

In April of 1999, Mitchell received her commission as captain as an Equal Opportunity officer. Since then, she has been appointed to the full-time military position of Wing Executive Support Officer for the 121st Air Refueling Wing at the Rickenbacker Air National Guard base in Columbus.

As a civilian, Mitchell was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Management in 1994 from Franklin University, and was certified as a professional project manager in February 2002 through the Project Management Institute.

Logistics and transportation are nothing new for Mitchell.

Working for the State of Ohio, she was a corridor manager in 1993 for the Office of Corridor Management in the Ohio Department of Transportation. She managed various transportation improvement and maintenance projects on 241 miles of Interstate 75 from Toledo to Cincinnati.

Transferring to the Ohio Department of Public Safety in November 1999, Mitchell initiated the Enterprise Project Management Office. She has re-engineered business processes and implemented changes that have improved customer service and increased efficiencies to save taxpayer dollars.

Members of the VFW and American Legion posts will hand out to those attending souvenir American flags during the observance.