Upstate Veterans & Emergency Responders Appreciation Day
-->By: Jennifer Lee
Updated: October 22, 2012
Area veterans enjoyed an afternoon of free beer and hot dogs Monday afternoon.
It was all a part of Veterans & Emergency Responders Appreciation Day at the American Legion in New Hartford.
1,400 cases of free beer were given away. But, there was an important message behind today's event, a global campaign against Improvised Explosive Devises or IEDs.
"Many service men have been manned, loss of limb by these devices. They are set in place and triggered by cellphones. They have to live with this for the rest of their lives. It's quite a sacrifice they made. The only thing worse than that if they gave their life. And there's enough of them that have done that," said Commander of Post 1376, Fred Williams.
According to the campaign, IEDs are the number one cause of causalities for American service members.
