PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD)– The Rotary Club of Peoria held its joint Veterans Day program with Rotary North on Friday afternoon.
The program featured a special guest speaker, Brigadier General William “Robbie” Robertson at the First United Methodist Church. Robertson is a Peoria native and served the armed forces for 41.5 years. He was a member of Peoria’s 182nd Airlift Wing of the Illinois National Guard.
He retired two years ago.
To start his speech, Robertson recognized Americans still missing from each of the four branches: Army, Marine Core, Navy, and Air Force. He says although he is retired, he’s honored to put his uniform back on for this occasion.
“It’s a true honor to come back to the club that I am a member of and speak and I had a lot of people ask me to put my uniform back on which for a retiree I can do but I was happy to put it back on for this special day for our veterans,” said Robertson.
Veterans in attendance and those in active service were also honored at the luncheon.
