PORTAGE | Dominic Pedroza served as a fire direction specialist in the Army. Lisa Taylor served as a medic in the Navy. Dan Kapica served in the U.S. Army in France and Germany during the Vietnam years.

Together, they were just three of more than 30 armed services veterans who received a standing ovation from Central Elementary School's 570 students Tuesday afternoon.

Students gathered to remember Veterans Day with their relatives who have served, and sang patriotic songs highlighting their courage, faith, honor and pride.

Gavin Short, a fourth-grader who wrote an award-winning essay on patriotism for the American Legion, said generations of veterans earned their day of recognition.

"Our freedom is one of the things I love about our country," Short said. "We have so many American heroes."

At Crisman Elementary School, on the city's north side, students began their day in reverence, as Principal Linda Kuss explained proper flag etiquette and helped the school's fifth-grade students explain the history of Veterans Day and its precursor Armistice Day.

"When I was growing up, on Armistice Day at 2 p.m., everything and everyone stopped in remembrance of this day," she said.