“This is like a homecoming for me,” Mayor Frank Picozzi said Tuesday morning at Warwick Neck Elementary School during the Neck’s annual Veterans Day celebration. 

Picozzi attended Warwick Neck. His two daughters are also Warwick Neck alums.

But the pavement behind the school isn’t usually the backdrop for the annual event.

Usually the Veterans Day observance is at the Warwick Light. This year there were changes. Jonathan Knight, President of the Warwick Neck Improvement Association explained that because of COVID- 19 restrictions it wasn’t possible to bus the students there.

So Knight talked to Principal Frank Galligan about having the event at the school and he “enthusiastically agreed.”

“Today’s celebration doesn’t just happen. It was the result of students, teachers, parents, and community members coming together to honor those deserving recognition this week,” Galligan said. “ It makes me proud to be Principal of a community school that has this level of dedication and spirit.”

During the event students in third, fourth, and fifth grades participated in various ways including presenting the colors, singing songs, and reading poems. 

Students and those in attendance also heard from guest speakers including Picozzi. 

“We enjoy freedoms and liberties in this country that wouldn’t be possible without the men and women who have served our country since its inception,” he told the students. 

The fifth grade students presented Picozzi with a flag following his speech which he said he would hang up in City Hall. 

U.S. Coast Guard Commander Eric Para told the students that they should talk to veterans any chance they get. He said that even if they don’t want to talk about their time in service because its too hard to talk about they could talk to them about other topics like baseball, Pokemon, or other things. His underlying message was to “listen” to veterans.

Rep. Joseph Solomon Jr. said the school always does a “phenomenal job,” with the event and said that he looks forward to it every year. 

“It's so important that we take the time to recognize the service of our veterans. We owe our ability to enjoy our freedoms and privileges that we enjoy today because of the sacrifices they have given,” he said. 

Following his speech Solomon Jr. presented Galligan with a citation for the school’s continuance work of putting the event on every year. He also gave the school a new American Flag.