The Greater Northern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted the annual Slatington Heritage Day Celebration on Saturday.

Kylie Adams, Assistant Vice President of the organization, said, “This is really a celebration of our community, our veterans, of America, really. It’s something that’s been happening for almost 50 years in Slatington, uninterrupted except for COVID last year. It’s a day that’s here for the community to celebrate with music and speakers.”

“And to recognize our veterans, “ added Andy Gildner, chair of the Greater Northern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce. “It’s all about the veterans today, too.”

Each year the event honors a veteran from the Slatington or Greater Northern Lehigh area; someone who served the country; to honor them and to have them speak about their experiences. The event was to have been held in the Veterans Memorial Park across the street from the church; however, due to the rain, it was held inside the church. The Slatington Baptist Church has been hosting this event every year since it started in 1976, except for last year due to COVID-19.

The program began with members of the Lehighton Band, under the direction of Brad Cressley, performing “Fanfare and Flourishes.”

Jason Breidinger, president of the Greater Northern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce, served as the master of ceremonies for the event.

“All of us have gathered here for decades at the Slatington Baptist Church to celebrate our nation’s independence,” Breidinger said, “and we’ve done so with a purpose and an understanding and an acknowledgment that there is something greater than ourselves.

“It can be said now, more than ever, we can appreciate the freedoms that our United States of America represents, the freedoms we celebrate here today, of course, and being here this year when last year we could not. We can’t say that makes this year more special, for the reasons we gather than any other year, but it makes the point that it’s really, really good to see you there this morning.”

Boy Scouts of America Troop 58, Slatington, presented the colors for the event and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Lehighton Band led everyone in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The Rev. James LeVan, pastor of Slatington Baptist Church, offered the invocation and the benediction.

The guest speaker was Kazimierz “Kaz” Kotlow, a veteran of 26 years with the United States Army, who served as a senior military leader with significant experience in political and military affairs. He served as the U.S. Defense attache to Yemen, Lebanon and assistant attache to Syria, where he represented the secretary of defense and advised the U.S. ambassador. He explained what made him join the Army.

“My dad was a Special Forces NCO,” Kotlow shared. “Seeing him coming off the plane from Vietnam, and you look out and see this uniform, and I just went, ‘Wow, that’s awesome!’ So that, combined with the definite rising sense of patriotism going on in the ’80s, a sense of positivity in the country; that, combined with my childhood experiences, made me want to try this, to provide some service to the country. I have to look back and say that my dad was my hero, as opposed to some sports figure.”

Kotlow shared some of his memories of his service, including an evacuation in Lebanon.

He listed three things he learned about dealing with people.

“The first is integrity, being true to yourself; the second is humility, those who have been in the service recognize that you don’t have singular success, you only have success because of all the people around you. And recognizing that there are too many others who didn’t make it through. And the third is doing what you know is the right thing to do, even when it’s difficult to do it.”

He discussed patriotism. “Our service people are under a lot of pressure dealing with leadership that is giving us a different and a darker vision of America, one that I think is not accurate at all, both in this history of the country and the quality of the people.”

Kotlow also said that today’s schools are not teaching the children enough about the importance of service to this nation, and not viewing each other as fellow Americans.

“It robs those kids of a sense of duty; a sense of love for their country, that drove me and a lot of other folks to join the military and had wonderful experiences; and having the honor to serve the country. A lot of those people are going to miss out, and that’s going to be bad for them individually, but it’s also going to be very bad for our country; our defense will suffer for not having people who see each other as Americans and willing to fight and die for the country,” Kotlow said.