By Anthony Gorges
JC Post
The Junction City Military Affairs Council is hosting an Armed Forces Day celebration this Saturday, May 18, in Downtown Junction City. The location for the event is at the northeast corner of 9th and Washington, with the event running from 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. There will be ceremonies and presentations from 9:30-11:30 a.m. with several guest speakers.
The featured guest speaker is Sergeant Major of the Army (Retired) Michael Grinston, who was previously stationed at Fort Riley.
The Armed Forces Day celebration will feature a future Swear-In of Soldiers ceremony, recognizing First Infantry Division Soldiers and a donation of over 100,000 servings of protein from Smithfield Foods. It is a free event and open to everyone, as there will be bounce houses, foam cannons, and dunk tanks for the kids as well as food trucks and a Fort Riley vehicle display.
Isreal Waddell, the Director of the Military Affairs Council, is excited to see the community come together to celebrate Armed Forces Day. “My slogan is better together,” Waddell said. “Just to see all these hundreds, maybe even thousands of people come together for military and just thanking our current soldiers and veterans is what it’s all about.”
The Armed Forces Day Celebration will also run in collaboration with the Junction City Main Street Market on Saturday.