Lakewood To Honor Veterans On November 11th At Lakewood Park
The City of Lakewood’s annual Veterans Day Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial in Lakewood Park, 14532 Lake Avenue. Lakewood’s annual Veterans Day observance is a tribute to the men and women who served our country in the armed forces.
Lakewood’s Veterans Day program will begin with the Presentation of Colors followed by the singing of the National Anthem by The Four Vet Quartet.
This year’s keynote speaker is Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Patrick Meissner who first became interested in the military in 1954 at the age of eleven when he followed the epic battle of Dien Bien Phu in the Plain Dealer. Even at this early time Meissner wanted to travel to Viet Nam.
After graduating from St Ignatius High School in 1959, he enrolled in Xavier University in Cincinnati. Meissner applied and was accepted in the ROTC program which focused on training for the artillery. He received his BA Degree in 1963 from Xavier University. Valedictorian of his class, he was awarded a History Major and minors in Mathematics and Philosophy.
Placed in the inactive Army reserves for a deferment, he received his Doctor of Law Degree from Harvard Law University in 1966. In law school, he co-chaired the Harvard Civil-Rights Committee. He currently is Secretary for the Law School Class of 1966.
He completed his active military duty by 1969 which included overseeing an Officers' Club at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York, and serving in Viet Nam with 5th SFGA. During off-duty time in Viet Nam, he worked with the Vietnamese American Friendship Society, teaching English and America's democratic institutions to Vietnamese youth. He received a Bronze Star for Service and two Army Commendation Medals.
Returning to Cleveland, he would spend the next forty-three years both as a soldier in the military reserve and as lawyer in poverty and civil rights. He performed as a Staff Attorney and an Attorney-in-Charge for Offices of the Cleveland Legal Aid Society on both Cleveland's East Side and West Side from 1969 through 1975. He then became Director of the Society's community development section.
Meissner has been legal counsel for three hundred businesses and community organizations. He has also served some 15,000 individual clients. He has recently published a book on his fifty years of legal experiences, entitled LEGAL WARRIORS.
Meissner has served in the U.S. Army Reserve Program from 1969 to the present. He first joined the 350th Psychological Operations Company, overseeing printing and product development. When the 2nd PSYOP Group was located in Cleveland, Meissner was appointed as the commander of the newly organized 21st PSYOP Company. After a three year command, he joined the 2nd Group where he served as he served as the Strategic Intelligence Officer and Group S-2.
He achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and served as the Deputy Commander of the 2nd Group. He was awarded the General Robert McClure Lifetime Achievement for his military service in June 2009, at a ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
He has been active with a number of veteran groups including the Greater Cleveland Veterans Memorial, Inc. where he served as the treasurer. Meissner has also been a member of the PSYOP Retiree Veterans for twenty years. He is also a Charter Member of the "Old Timers" Vietnam Veterans composed of legal personnel who served in Viet Nam. He is also a member of the Special Forces Association.
Lieutenant Colonel has three children, Paul, Betina, and Chiquita.
Other highlights of this year’s program include performances by the Lakewood High School Band, The Four Vet Quartet and a 21-gun salute by the Joint Veterans Honor Guard. The Veterans Day Ceremony is free and open to the public. Following the ceremony, coffee and doughnuts will be offered in the Woman’s Club Pavilion at Lakewood Park.