DUBLIN, Ga. — Every Veterans Day, we honor our men and women who have served the United States by saying 'thank you' or doing something for them. Well, this year, veterans in Dublin came together to share the gift of music.
"I've sung in the previous choir that we had, and this time, I had a chance to play," Veteran Dennis Pennymon said.
It's been about five years since Pennymon sang a note in the medical center choir. That all changed this week during Veterans Day.
"If it's music, that's what I am, I am a musician, that is what I do," Pennymon said.
Employee and musician Anita Hill thought of the idea to give veterans a new rhythm throughout the medical center, so she went to her supervisor Keith Griffin, who got on beat immediately.
"I told him, 'Why not have a choir this year for the Veterans Day program?' He said, 'Get it together, get your people together, and I'll run it by Scott,'" Hill said.
With that, Hill recruited veterans and employees to play instruments and sing, forming the "Medical Center Choir."
"From the veterans that did participate, they loved it -- they loved it, they enjoyed, and it's been the talk of the morning since we've been here to work," Hill said.
With the signs of COVID-19 still visible at the VA, Pennymon hopes his music lifted veterans' spirits.
"It being Veterans Day and I got to do something for the veterans, It meant a lot to me," Pennymon said.
"It's a soother, It's a motivator, It's all sort of things, It's a calmer, a rescuer," Hill said.