CNMI VA office treats veterans to lunch

Over 200 veterans and their families joined the CNMI Veterans Affairs Office for a special Veterans Day luncheon last Saturday at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan in San Antonio.

Veterans and their families were not only treated to a free meal, but were also given pool passes to PIC’s waterpark for the rest of the day.

CNMI Office of Veteran Affairs program coordinator Jerad Atalig said that Saturday’s event was intended to thank all veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice, “for everything they’ve done.”

He said the celebration was also a personal one for him. “My son is a veteran. He just got out of the Air Force, so I’m really happy we get to spend the day with all our veterans in the CNMI,” he said.

Atalig said planning for the event took two months, thanks in large part to the efforts of their new executive officer, Frances Sablan. “She’s a veteran as well, and she told us we need to do something big this year for our veterans, and so that’s what we did,” he said.

Several veterans shared with Saipan Tribune the importance of support groups—that veterans don’t have to face the after-effects of war alone and the gathering reminded them of their veteran family.

U.S. Army veteran Carlos Cabrera Seman told Saipan Tribune that the event did feel like a veteran family get-together “Thank you to all the organizers of this event because we’re a lot closer as a family,” he said.

Another veteran, Edward Seman Iriarte, thanked the Veterans Affairs Office for “recognizing all of us guys before, and even now, for serving our country…”

Another U.S. Army veteran, Albert Lujan, said, “It’s very meaningful for veterans like myself to have people respect and understand what we’ve been through. We were at the [Veterans Day] memorial this morning…but then having the meal and the enjoyment and people coming up and saying thank you for your service, it just means a lot.”

Harley Eriich said, “I really appreciate what the state VA office did and how they put this up because we’ve had other days like this where it was open to the public but not a lot of people came because not a lot of people knew about it. I really appreciate what they did, how they came and pulled together this event, and allowed us to be here and spend time with our family and I’m grateful.”

Both Lujan and Eriich said that remembering veterans is important not just for the veterans themselves, but also for the community.

“Looking back at Vietnam, a lot of the veterans during that time were not really taken care of and not many appreciated what they did, and once you forget that, then your future generation don’t see the urgency or the patriotism to sign up or do something like that, because if you don’t get support for what you’re doing, more than likely your future generation is not going to want to be a part of it,” Eriich said.

For the fresh faces who are going to serve, Iriarte and Seman’s message is: “Stand strong and serve your country proudly.”