A program to honor those who served, and continue to serve, will be held ahead of Veterans Day in Lehighton.

Hosted by the Lehighton United Veterans Organization, the Veterans Day program will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Lehighton Borough Park Amphitheater.

The program will start with opening remarks from Christine LeClair, Carbon County Director of Veterans Affairs.

From there, retired Lt. Col. Travis Steigerwalt, a Lehighton graduate and Iraq/Afghanistan veteran, will do the salute to services.

Regardless of which era or branch they served in, or continue to serve in, the program is meant to serve as a tribute to our veterans, according to Kevin “Spike” Long, commander of the Lehighton UVO.

“We’ll be there to honor all our veterans who have served,” Long said. “The UVO thought it was in their best to try to do something to honor those who served and are all serving.”

Long said the UVO felt it was the right thing to do.

“There’s so much stuff going on with this COVID, we just wanted to do something, and we figured being outside, we can adhere to all the guidelines that we need to do; there’s enough space down there,” he said. “It’s just a little program so that it’s out there that people know what Veterans Day is all about, and veterans know they are not forgotten.”

Long said he’s grateful for all the community support the Lehighton UVO receives.

“I definitely want to thank the Borough of Lehighton, they’re always 100% behind our veterans, plus our community; we can’t say enough about them, their support is just absolutely fantastic,” he said. “There’s a lot of support how they feel about our veterans, and it’s really great.”