Dublin Veterans Day ceremony returns Nov. 11 to Veterans Park

Dublin's annual Veterans Day Ceremony will take place Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. at the Grounds of Remembrance in Dublin Veterans Park, 77 N. High St.

The City of Dublin and Wesley G. Davids American Legion Post 800 co-host the ceremony each year. The event is open to the public, according to a city feature published Oct. 30.

The post itself is named for Lance Cpl. Wesley G. Davids, a 2003 Dublin Scioto High School graduate. He was one of 22 Marines and one Navy corpsman who died during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. A member of Columbus-based Lima Company, Davids died the day after his 20th birthday.

Dublin native Nicholas "Nick" J. Rozanski, 36, was one of three soldiers who died in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2012. A captain in the Ohio National Guard, Rozanski was assigned to 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He had also deployed to Kosovo in 2004 and Iraq in 2008.

Lt. Alfred Marion Chard served in the U.S. Navy during World War II aboard the USS Washington (BB-56), where he earned 11 battle stars. Originally from Iowa, He spent his final years in central Ohio and belonged to Dublin’s Post 800. He died in 2025 at age 104 and is buried in Dublin Cemetery.

A dedication stone in Dublin Veterans Park honors him.

The city's feature also profiled Dublin's military heritage dating to the Revolutionary War. John Davis and Ann Simpson both served at age 16. Davis fought in battles across New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey under French Maj. Gen. Marquis de Lafayette. Simpson carried messages from Gen. George Washington to his generals. The couple married in June 1783 and moved to Dublin in 1816, claiming land granted for their wartime service. They are buried in the Davis Cemetery on Riverside Drive.

During the Civil War, 16 Dublin volunteers joined the 46th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry in October 1861. Among them, 23-year-old Harry Clay Davis captured the Confederate flag of the 30th Louisiana Infantry while fighting in Atlanta. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.

In 2021, the City of Dublin Veterans Committee and Post 800 dedicated a Washington Township and Dublin High School Honor Roll monument at the Grounds of Remembrance. First established in 1942, the monument recognizes 87 World War II veterans. Dublin's population at the time was 237 people.

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