Rockville will honor veterans of our nation’s armed forces with a ceremony at 11 a.m. on Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11.
The ceremony is planned for Veterans Park, at the intersection of MD 28 and Rockville Pike. Free parking will be available at Sandy Spring Bank, 611 Rockville Pike.
The ceremony, which is open to the public, will include a wreath laying, a presentation of colors and a rifle salute led by American Legion Post 86. A reception will follow at American Legion Post 86, at 2013 Veirs Mill Road.
Dominic Russoli, a retired Air Force master sergeant, will be the guest speaker. Russoli served in the Air Force for 22 years, including as a weapons technician at Hurlburt Field and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida from 1979-1982, and a year as an enlisted aide to the commander of the 9th Air Force at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.
He arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1983, as an enlisted aide to the Air Force’s vice chief of staff at Bolling Air Force Base. From 1985-2001, Russoli served as an aircrew member of the 89th Military Airlift Wing, which is responsible for Air Force One, and served in the Washington, D.C., Air National Guard, where he supported the president and other government officials.
Since retiring from service in 2001, Russoli has worked as an analyst/inspector for the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.
Originally from Allentown, Pennsylvania, Russoli and his husband have lived in Rockville for 22 years. He is an oil painter and an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville, where he serves as a committee co-chair and lay minister.
For more information about Rockville’s Veteran’s Day ceremony, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/veteransday, email [email protected] or call 240-314-8620.