100 years marked on Veterans Day

The Veterans Day celebration at Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home was special in more ways than one. Not only was it the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the forerunner of the Veterans Day holiday, but it was the 100th birthday for World War II veteran David Gardiner.

Mr. Gardiner served in Hawaii, Okinawa, and helped liberate the Philippines, according to his son Thomas “Cliff” Gardiner, associate dean for Faculty and Student Affairs in the College of Science and Mathematics at Augusta University. The highly decorated Army veteran was surrounded by family and friends during a Veterans Day ceremony that included music from Wycliffe Gordon and a performance from the Lakeside High School ROTC drill team.

After the event, Mr. Gardiner was interviewed by several news reporters. One of them asked him his opinion of war, to which he responded: “It’s a waste of time. People ought to get along.”