US Army Drill Team Coming to West Bend

Veterans Day assembly will feature internationally recognized drill team

By Darick Fait, Current Staff

While sitting in his tree stand last November, Scott Mindel decided that in 2019, Veterans Day at the West Bend High Schools would be bigger and better than ever.

Mindel, a social studies teacher at East High, envisioned the US Army Drill Team from Ft. Meyer in Arlington, Virginia, performing as part of a schoolwide assembly. It is highly unusual for the drill team to perform in a high school setting, but Mindel spent months pursuing the idea. Despite a great deal of bureaucracy and disappointing road blocks along the way, Mindel finally received an email while at the eye doctor in late July saying that his request had been approved.

The schoolwide ceremony will take place Friday.

“I don’t know what can top this actually, because the drill team is internationally known, they are from the same unit that guards the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery,” Mindel said.

Previously, WBHS has not done anything very noteworthy for Veterans Day.

“Not since I’ve been here, and this is my 27th year,” Mindel said.

This year will be very different. According to Mindel, over 200 veterans will be present, and the total crowd might exceed 2,500 people. The event will be covered by news outlets and both local and state politicians are expected to be in attendance.

Friday’s assembly will begin with the high school band performing. Both Mindel and Rob Willmas, a tech ed teacher and veteran of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, will give speeches about the significance of Veterans Day. Everybody is going to remember the 29 former WBHS students who were killed in action. West senior Brady Falk will play “Taps.” And finally, the US Army Drill Team will perform a precision routine involving bayonetted rifles.

(Promotional flyer courtesy of Scott Mindel.)