About 80 people, CM Life estimates, attended Latty’s Black History Month keynote speech in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium Thursday night.

“Ms. Latty is one of the only people that share these kinds of stories, so we were really excited to bring her here,” said Keisha Janney, assistant director of Minority Student Services.

Latty, an award-winning journalist, author and professor at New York University, told the stories of 10 black veterans of wars as far back as World War II and as recent as the Iraq War.

“I was a reporter with the Philadelphia Daily News and (the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks) happened,” she said. “It was traumatic and upsetting for me, like it was for everyone, but I didn’t really feel connected with this country like some people did. But after interviewing these veterans, I felt connected.”

Latty said she is concerned with treatment of veterans when they returned to the U.S.

“I believe with all my heart that we have to support them no matter what,” Latty said. “No matter if they’re black or white, Democrat or Republican — it doesn’t matter.”

Latty spoke to one WWII veteran who was shot during his service as a medic in the D-Day invasion. He worked through his wounds and saved many men, though he was denied the Medal of Honor because he was black.

“When I interviewed some of these veterans I learned a lot about grace under fire and dignity,” Latty said.

She also told the stories of poor black Iraq War veterans who had to live in assisted housing or work minimum wage jobs when they returned.

“They left the physical war to go to a mental one,” Latty said.

The audience was allowed to ask questions following the presentation. Several wondered what they could do to help veterans who had been neglected.

“I’ve never been more moved,” Dearborn junior Margaret Humenik said. “I genuinely want to get involved with a veteran’s organization and do something to help. Really and truly, it touched me.”

As the 58-year-old Mount Pleasant resident rolled the cigar over his lips, he stood solemnly. He held off the light wind to light up the stogie on a foggy Veteran’s Day morning.

Chatfield paced slowly, circling the statue and stopping every few steps to release the smoke into the air, as he does once a month. As an American Indian, it’s his way of sending his regards to those who have fallen.

This was his prayer for veterans.

“I lost a lot of friends to war and a lot of my family served time as well,” Chatfield said. “I come here once a month, see everyone who is here on the wall. I’ve learned new names, met new people and seen their names appear onto the wall since they’ve passed. I know so many of these people.”

Thousands across the nation honored veterans in different ways. In Mount Pleasant, two ceremonies were held.

The first was Wednesday night, a dozen students gathered in Kessler Hall to listen to a Korean War veteran speak. On Thursday, Central Michigan University held a ceremony for about 40 people at Warriner Mall.

Marine City junior Janine Jenken stood as a drumline played “Taps” while wearing her father’s dog tags. Her father served in Vietnam and her grandfather in World War II.

“America is the home of the free because of the brave,” she said.

Newaygo resident Bert Geerdink, a Vietnam veteran who served in the Navy from 1965 to 1969, visited Island Park mid-morning.

Geerdink, 64, was stationed on the East Coast of the U.S. He was spit at in Atlanta, Ga.

“There was a lot of hostility toward vets, a lot of students protesting,” he said. “At one time I wasn’t proud of (being a veteran), but I am now. … I’m fine. I’m alive, unlike these (veterans).”

Bannister resident Sam Sopocy, 63, drove up from southern Gratiot County with his wife Connie to visit the memorial site in Island Park for the first time on Thursday. He met a great friend named Ed Kasnow in the service, who was dating a girl who attended Sopocy’s high school.

Sopocy never imagined meeting another local while serving for one full year in February 1967.

“He was my friend,” Sopocky said, after wiping tears from his eyes as he walked by his name one last time. “We had a lot in common, and I wanted to come and pay my respects.”

Chatfield said every soldier deserves respect for the time each has served, as too many people take the freedoms they died to keep for granted.

“Freedom is hard enough to come by with so much tyranny in the world,” Chatfield said. “Even though I’m not in the service, I understand and respect them, and many more need to do just that. This land was fought hard for all of us, and for no other reason than to be free. Let’s remember that and remember these fine individuals who have dedicated their lives to our safety — to our freedom.”

-Assistant Photo Editor Sean Proctor contributed to this report.

They could not tell anyone what they did — not friends, family or anyone.

Keith Little, one of the few remaining Navajo Code Talkers, spoke about their involvement in World War II on Monday night in the Bovee University Center Rotunda.

Navajo Code Talkers were a group of Navajo Native Americans who worked as communication specialists for the United States Marine Corp in the battles against Japan. They used their language to send messages from one unit to another so the Japanese could not decipher the code and learn the Marines’ next move.

“In my training I was asked if I was a Navajo. I said yes and they channeled me into communication school,” Little said. “They told us we had done something unusual and unique. The code was made in such as way that it would only confuse the listener. It took us three months to master our code.”

After coming home from the Pacific in WWII the code talkers were sworn to secrecy for more than 20 years to never reveal what they had done in the war.

In 1968, however, the U.S. government declassified the Navajo Code and opened it up on public record. The Navajo Code Talkers still did not receive any recognition until 2001 when they were given Congressional Medals of Honor.

Amber Anderson, member of Central Michigan University Program Board, said this is what inspired her to bring Little to talk about the code talkers.

“A lot of people don’t know what they did in World War II. It’s important for people to know,” Anderson said.

The Navajo language was chosen as a code language in WWII because of its complexity, Little said. The Navajo language is very difficult to learn and master, as it has no alphabet.

“You must be a fluent speaker to understand,” Little said, “They have to know everything about Navajo life.”

Anderson said she first learned of the Navajo Code Talkers when watching “Windtalkers.”

“I realized I really didn’t know a lot about it. I figured that there may be other people who don’t know much about the Navajo Code Talkers,” she said.

Freshmen Jessica Southward of Blissfield and Katie Bryant of Bay City said the event was very informative and filled with entertaining facts.

“It was interesting to find out how much work they did in World War II,” Southward said.

The Navajo Code is the only code that has never been deciphered, Little said.

“There is a code for every war and they have all been broken, but the Navajo code was never decoded,” Little said.