Retired Gunnery Sgt. Lou Neubecker, U.S. Marine Corps, and members of the audience at Seaside Civic and Convention Center Wednesday.

SEASIDE — Seaside High School Student Body President Taylor Barnes made a moving demonstration of patriotism and respect for our nation’s veterans Wednesday.

“Never before have I given a speech with so much weight and meaning,” Barnes said at the Seaside Downtown Development Association Veterans Day program at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center. “That is why I am honored to be speaking on behalf of the people I’ve always looked up to as role models.”

Barnes intends to enter the U.S. Naval Academy next fall.

“Veterans, like the ones that stand before me today, have influenced me so that it has inspired me to follow in the footsteps of these men and women who have so bravely done so before me,” Barnes said. “What you veterans have done and continue to do inspires me to give my everything in everything I do. You are the most outstanding citizens America has to offer. I hope someday I can inspire people the same way you inspire me.”

Several hundred veterans, their families and area residents filled the convention center’s lobby. The Rev. David Sweeney of Calvary Episcopal Church, provided the invocation, followed by words from veterans Master Sgt. John Gates and Gunnery Sgt. Lou Neubecker.

Then, the audience stood and saluted as Scout Pack 540 raised the flag outside the center and Miss Clatsop County Alexis Mather sang the National Anthem.

On Monday night, the Seaside City Council issued a proclamation paying tribute to the “men and women who have risked their lives to preserve the liberty of our nation, the families who support them, and the heroes no longer with us.

“Whether active duty, reserve or National Guard, they are our nation’s finest citizens, and they have shown the heights to which Americans can rise when asked and inspired to do so,” wrote Mayor Don Larson.